India Name Replacement For Hardik Pandya And KL Rahul
Jan 13, 2019 at 8:33 AM
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has named the replacements for suspended duo Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul. Both the players have been sent home from Australia for their controversial remarks on talk show Koffee with Karan. The under-fire duo will remain suspended across formats pending an inquiry,
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) has sent a show-cause notice to Pandya and Rahul asking them for a reply “as to why they should not be proceeded against for misconduct and indiscipline under Rule 41 of the BCCI Constitution”.
As per Rule 41(6) of the BCCI Constitution, the players are hereby suspended with immediate effect from participating in any manner whatsoever in any match or function or event or activity that is authorized, organized, sanctioned, recognized or supported in any way by the BCCI, the ICC or any State Association, until final adjudication of the matter.
With the duo now out of the ongoing series against Australia and the upcoming tour of New Zealand, the BCCI have named allrounder Vijay Shankar and Shubman Gill as replacement. Shankar will join up with the squad ahead of the second ODI against Australia while Gill will join the team for the New Zealand tour only.
Shankar, who has played five T20Is so far, is yet to make his ODI debut while Gill, who won the ICC Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand last year, has received his maiden international call-up.
Gill was the Player of the Tournament for India during the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2018, and has only gone from strength to strength since then. He has been in stunning form in the ongoing Ranji Trophy. He has scored at an average of over 100 this season while he averages 47.72 from 37 List A games.
On the other hand, Shankar is a like for like replacement for Pandya. The Tamil Nadu man is pace-bowling allrounder. He recently impressed for India A during the tour of New Zealand. He was the side’s leading run-scorer in their recent series against New Zealand A, and has an average of 48.55 from 14 India A 50-over games.
India, meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back in the second ODI after losing the series-opener by 134 runs.