Kohli: We do not support views expressed by Pandya and Rahul

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India captain Virat Kohli has come out and said that he and the team do not support comments made by Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul on an online talk show.

Rahul and especially Pandya were vilified on social media and by most in India’s general public for comments that was inappopriate towards woman.

The comments, according to some observers, came across as “sexist, misogynistic and racist” with some people also now questioning the culture in India’s team.

The BCCI have issued the both players a show-cause notice to which Pandya responded with an apology to the board.

Kohli, who was speaking to reporters on Friday before their first ODI against Australia in Sydney on Saturday, said the team do not support the comments by the two players and that they will accept any sanctions imposed the BCCI.

Kohli said: “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 the two concerned players felt what has gone wrong and they have understood the magnitude of what’s happened.

“Definitely it has to hit anyone hard, they will definitely understand the things that have not gone right.

“We, definitely, as the Indian cricket team do not support views like that and that has been communicated. I can definitely say that as the Indian cricket team and responsible cricketers we definitely don’t align with those views and those are purely individual views.

“We are still waiting for a decision to be made but from the Indian cricket team point of view this changes nothing in terms of our beliefs in the change room.

“It does nothing to the spirit that we’ve been able to create within the change room and these are purely individual opinions and something as I said which is inappropriate.”

The BCCI is likely to announce its verdict on the subject soon, with a two-match suspension for Pandya and possibly just a warning for Rahul the expected outcomes.

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