India vs Australia: Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul suspended for controvesial comments, may return home to face inquiry

India will not have Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul in the ODI series against Australia after they were suspended from all forms of cricket pending an inquiry into their outrage-evoking comments on women. Hardik and Rahul are in Australia where they were to compete in an ODI series starting Saturday.

The two had been already been omitted from the line-up for the opening match in Sydney. 

"Both Pandya and Rahul have been suspended pending an inquiry," the Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai said. Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul are expected to face an official inquiry into the whole matter.

CoA sent a letter to Pandya and Rahul informing them of the decision. "You are hereby suspended with immediate effect from participating in any manner whatsoever in any match or activity authorized or supported by the BCCI, the ICC or any State Association, until final adjudication of the matter," it said, according to ANI.

Read: The Hardik Pandya comments controversy- everything you need to know

A source in the BCCI told PTI that the two will be issued fresh show cause notices before a formal enquiry begins.

"Whether it will be an internal committee of the BCCI or an ad hoc ombudsman who will conduct an inquiry, is yet to be ascertained," the official said.

"The Indian team management will take a call on whether they would want to keep the two with the team or send them back. There is a school of thought that they be kept with the team as the backlash back home could be severe but majority in BCCI brass is against the decision," he added.

The decision comes after Rai's CoA colleague Diana Edulji Friday recommended suspension till further action against the two after the BCCI legal team refused to declare their comments a violation of the code of conduct.
Edulji had initially suggested a two-match suspension for the duo but referred the matter to the legal cell after Vinod Rai agreed with her and recommended the same.

In the pre-match media interaction, India captain Virat Kohli condemned the comments made by Pandya and Rahul, calling them "inappropriate".

"From the Indian cricket team point of view, any inappropriate comments that are made in that scenario are something that we definitely don't support...and that has been communicated (to the two players)," said Kohli.

"...We definitely don't align with those views and those are purely individual views. The two concerned players (have) felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude of what's happened."

However, the skipper insisted that the dressing room morale won't be affected by the controversy after the historic high of a maiden Test series triumph in Australia.

Pandya had boasted about hooking up with multiple women and being open about it with his parents during the interview. Rahul was, however, a shade more restrained in his responses on relationships

Pandya has apologised for his remarks on Twitter, saying he got "carried away by the nature" of the show. "After reflecting on my comments on Koffee with Karan, I would like to apologise to everyone concerned who I may have hurt in any way."

"Honestly, I got a bit carried away with the nature of the show. In no way did I mean to disrespect or hurt anyone's sentiments. Respect," he had said in his apology.

He has also replied to BCCL's show cause notice expressing 'sincere regrets'.