Rahul and Pandya have been given seven days to come up with an explanation as to why action should not be taken against them for misconduct and indiscipline under Rule 41 of the BCCI constitution
New Delhi: The BCCI selection committee has called up Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar in place of the suspended KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya. While Shankar's selection has been for both the ODI series in Australia and the ODI and T20I series in New Zealand, Gill will join the team in New Zealand.
The decision came after Pandya and Rahul were suspended and sent back to India for their sexist and misogynist comments in the popular chat show Koffee with Karan. There is talk of the duo even missing the World Cup later this year.
Rahul and Pandya have been given seven days to come up with an explanation as to why action should not be taken against them for misconduct and indiscipline under Rule 41 of the BCCI constitution.
The two-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) is divided in its opinion on how to go about the inquiry into the Rahul-Pandya case.
While CoA chief Vinod Rai wants a quick inquiry considering the balance of the Indian side, Diana Edulji thinks that a hasty inquiry will “look like a cover-up job”.
“We must take a view by the time the second ODI (in Australia) gets over as we cannot afford to debilitate team strength due to delinquent behaviour on the part of some player,” Rai wrote to Edulji.
However, she replied, “We should be in no hurry to conduct the inquiry as it would then look like a cover-up job being done.”
Shankar, who made his India debut in the T20 format last year, is the backup pace-bowling allrounder. The middle-order batsman has also proved himself for Tamil Nadu across all formats of the game.
Gill was the cynosure of all eyes after he scored 418 runs at an average of 104.50 in the 2018 ICC U19 World Cup.
The 19-year-old Punjab batsman has also proved his worth in the Ranji Trophy. Gill, who was awarded as the Best Junior Cricketer for consecutive years in 2013-14 and 2014-15 by the BCCI, was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.8 crore ($280,000) in the 2018 IPL auctions.
With PTI inputs
Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.