India all-rounder Hardik Pandya's "crass and cringeworthy" comments on a TV show has far reaching implications and may attract match-fixing syndicates who operate by laying honeytraps, said a senior official of the Indian cricket board.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary said, "The very first caution that the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) officers give in briefing to the players is to beware of situations of honeytraps and the comments made on the show make it seem that the players may just be ripe for the plucking."
Pandya and KL Rahul, who appeared on the TV show Koffee With Karan, now face a punishment that might be a two-match ban (as recommended by Committee of Administrators (COA) chief Vinod Rai) or more for their comments that have been criticised as sexist and even racist.
Known for his no nonsense manner of speaking, Chaudhary called on the Committee of Administrators (COA) to hand Pandya and Rahul sterner punishment. He even suggested that the two players be banned from the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) if they have breached any of BCCI's contract regulations.
Chaudhary cited the harsh ban handed out by Cricket Australia to skipper Steve Smith, and his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft on the ball-tampering saga.
"The players who appeared on the show have definitely brought the game, Indian cricket and cricketers into disrepute by their words and admitted conduct. The consequences for bringing the game of cricket into disrepute are definitely something which will have to be considered… It would be pertinent to note that the COA had, in those facts and circumstances (Smith and Warner), also taken the decision to ban those players for the IPL 2018," added Chaudhary.
He also suggested that "the entire team and support staff must go through a sensitisation process, and CEO may join them, as was recommended by Ms Veena Gowda, advocate" who was part of special committee set up by Rai alone to deal with BCCI CEO Rahul Johri's sexual harassment case.
Chaudhary also demanded an investigation into how the two players appeared on an entertainment show.
"The provisions of the earlier contracts and the practice in place would have required these contracted players to seek permission to appear on the show. Was such a permission sought? Was such a permission granted? If so, by whom" he was obviously pointing towards players' agent controlling the Indian dressing room.
Meanwhile, board acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary asked why the issue is being treated in a hurry, much similar to the way sexual harassment charges against Johri were dealt with.
Taking a dig at Rai and Johri, he wrote: "When a show-cause indeed had to be issued, neither legally nor morally could it have been signed by a most tainted person himself (read Johri). And I may add something as basic as this at least could have been understood by the person (read Rai) issuing instructions to the tainted issuing authority."
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