Supreme Court sets February 5 for Hardik Pandya-KL Rahul hearing

Mumbai: Its 10 weeks now ever since the controversial Koffee with Karan episode featuring Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul was aired on TV. After Pandya faced the fury for his sexist remarks on women alongside Rahul, the duo was further suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pending an inquiry to the matter.

As a result, they were sent back to India and ultimately missed the ODIs against Australia. They were also not picked for the limited-overs tour to New Zealand, where India play five ODIs and three T20Is.

However, it is now known that the Supreme Court has tentatively set a date for the hearing on February 5th which means their come back to cricket has further been extended for at least two more weeks. With the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the ICC Cricket World Cup, 2019 lined up later this year, a delay in the judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts of the case could obstruct the participation of the cricketers in the aforementioned tournaments.

Chief of Committee of Administrators (CoA), Vinod Rai, is considering the idea of appointing an ad-hoc ombudsman when the date of the hearing is confirmed. He is also mulling a behavioural counselling programme for the Team India players in the wake of the controversy.

A close source disclosed, “Whatever the views of the ad-hoc ombudsman, they can be later presented to the ombudsman appointed by SC for approval. But at least, the enquiry process can be completed and the players can start thinking about their cricket again,”