BCCI not impressed as Hardik Pandya apologises for Koffee with Karan fiasco

India all-rounder Hardik Pandya and opener KL Rahul’s Koffee with Karan appearance has made headlines for all the wrong reasons as they spoke about their behaviour with women and the ways in which Pandya speaks to his family about his sexual relationships. With the fans not being impressed by the duo’s statements, Pandya has now gone ahead and apologized on social media for getting carried away and saying things which he regrets and also clarified that he didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s sentiments. But this hasn’t gone down well with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, a senior BCCI official said that the matter was far from over and how Pandya’s words showed his attitude towards serious issues like respecting women. He also pointed at the need of an international cricketer to understand his duties.

“This attempt at an apology does in no way bring the issue to closure. This merely shows how lightly he takes the gravely serious issue of respecting women. His conduct was unacceptable. He needs to understand the impact the utterances of an international cricketer have in this country but more importantly he needs to learn how to differentiate between the right and the wrong. Right now he seems to merely respond to the outrage and not to his own thought process and conduct,” he said.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, former BCCI General Manager (Game Development) Ratnakar Shetty — currently associated with Uttarakhand as BCCI nominee — also made his displeasure known. “This is disgraceful and not acceptable from someone who represents the country and I will be writing to the Committee of Administrators so that these things are not repeated. I have also tweeted how I feel,” he said.

It is time the BCCI decides to take corrective steps for cricketers who talk rubbish on public platforms. Hardik Pandya was a disgrace to the cricket community the way he spoke on Koffeewith Karan show. He has insulted the women and also made a racist remark.

— Ratnakar Shetty (@RatnakarShetty6) January 9, 2019

Taking to Twitter, Pandya put out a post which read: “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.”

pic.twitter.com/O0UlpFm43o

— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) January 9, 2019

The show was aired on Sunday night and the duo was even trolled for celebrating India’s historic series win in Australia on Monday. It was India’s first series win Down Under since they started touring in 1947-48 and chief coach Ravi Shastri also made a big statement after his team won their first-ever Test series in Australia. Speaking to the media in Sydney, Shastri said that the series win is as big as the 1983 World Cup win or even bigger than that.

“I will tell you how satisfying it is for me. World Cup 1983, World Championship of Cricket 1985 – this is as big, or even bigger, because it is in the truest (Test) format of the game. It’s Test cricket, which is meant to be the toughest,” Shastri said.