Ace spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday slammed Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for their controversial interview on Koffee with Karan, saying they have put the reputations of cricketers at stake.
Pandya and Rahul have been issued show-cause notices and have been suspended from the Indian team provisionally.
Harbhajan minced no words and said, “Look, the punishment could be a two-match or three-match ban. That will not change anything. Their reputation was at stake, they have lost the trust of their teammates. If he comes and stands next to you at a party, would you like to stand next to him? I will not travel with these two guys in the same bus because if my daughter, if my wife is travelling in the team bus.. how would they feel? You are looking at women in only one angle? That’s not right.”
On the show, Pandya had boasted about hooking up with multiple women and being open about it with his parents. Rahul was, however, a little more restrained in his responses on relationships and women. When asked by the host Karan Johar if they had “done it in teammates’ rooms,” both Pandya and Rahul responded in the positive.
“We don’t talk about all this even with our friends and they were talking on public television. Now people might think was Harbhajan Singh like this, was Anil Kumble like this and was Sachin Tendulkar…” Harbhajan told to India Today.
The under-fire players have been suspended pending an inquiry into their sexist comments, ruling them out of the ongoing three-match ODI series against Australia.
