Former India captain Sourav Ganguly empathised with suspended duo Hardik Pandya and
KL Rahul, observing that players make mistakes and urged the cricketing fraternity to move on from the controversy.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai, Ganguly said that he hasn’t watched the Koffee with Karan episode where Pandya and Rahul’s misogynistic comments led to a provisional suspension. But, he offered a sympathetic view on the under-fire duo.
“People make mistakes, let’s not go too far here. I am sure, whoever has done it will realise and come out a better person. We are human beings not machines that we will always be perfect. We should move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Ganguly said on the raging controversy.
Pandya and Rahul were forced to return midway through the ongoing One-day International series against Australia and India captain Virat Kohli condemned their statements.
The duo were twice slapped with show-cause notices by the Board of Control for Cricket in India since then, and are also being put through an inquiry. Ganguly jumped at the players’ defence.
“...they (cricketers) are humble. Every now and then one or two make mistakes but I know most of them personally and they are great guys,” Ganguly said.
Pandya and Rahul are set to miss the upcoming New Zealand Tour as well. Ganguly denied the notion that modern-day cricketers are disobedient.
“Look at Virat Kohli....he is such a fantastic role model. India is a fortunate country, every generation produces great players. There was (Sunil) Gavaskar, then came (Sachin) Tendulkar. When Tendulkar finished his career, people thought who’s next. Now, it’s Virat Kohli.
“A lot of these cricketers are fantastic human beings because they come from middle class backgrounds and fight their way up. Can you imagine 11 selected out of the millions play the game.”