Keep rahul hardik out for one match

Keep rahul hardik out for one match

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) needs to impose a fine and one-match suspension on cricketers K L Rahul and Hardik Pandya for sexist remarks on a TV show, and move on. This offence had no criminal implication and occurred off the cricket field. To treat it as a major issue — some have compared it with the ball tampering by Australians Steve Smith and David Warner — is ridiculous. The highest discipline and standards should be maintained on field. But it should be no news to anybody that many sportspersons act like spoiled brats, are coarse-mouthed and boastful. Some (like boxer Mike Tyson) have even assaulted women. By comparison, Pandya and Rahul are guilty of peccadillos. Their remarks on a TV show were indeed sexist, yet should surprise nobody conversant with the way sports stars act.

Their sins are not remotely comparable with misbehaviour on the cricket field, or with criminal activity off it. England’s Ben Stokes knocked two people senseless in a bar brawl, yet kept playing for his side. It’s another matter that he was eventually acquitted of the offence of ‘affray’.

In 2013, Shane Warne was fined and suspended for one match for deliberately throwing the ball at the midriff of West Indies’ Marlon Samuels. This is the sort of short, swift, appropriate penalty that should be handed out to Rahul and Pandya. The BCCI Committee of Administrators is deadlocked. One member, Vinod Rai, took quick action to ensure that the interests of Indian cricket aren’t harmed by delays. The other member, Diana Edulji, wants to follow lengthy procedure for fear of being accused of a cover-up. This is bureaucratic nonsense. Accusations of a cover-up come when a process lacks credibility, not when it is speedy. A fine and limited suspension will suffice, and will deter other sportspersons from similar crassness off the field.