Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul’s World Cup Participation In Big Doubt
Credits: BCCI

On the very expected lines, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya made it to India’s 15-man World Cup squad earlier this week. The future of both the players were in limbo following the suspension handed to them in the aftermath of the Koffee with Karan controversy. The BCCI had suspended both the players and had called them back from Australia after their controversial and highly inappropriate remarks on the talk show.

However, later the Committee of Administrators (CoA) lifted the suspension pending the appointment of an ombudsman. Last month, Justice (Retd.) DK Jain became BCCI’s first ombudsman and a decision on the matter was expected soon. In fact, reports suggested that the BCCI officials were expecting Justice Jain to give his verdict before the selectors announced the World Cup squad on April 15.

However, Rahul and Pandya are yet to get clearance from Jain. The duo had appeared before Jain separately to explain themselves. While Pandya met him on April 9, Rahul met him in Mumbai on April 10. But despite a five-day gap between the hearing and the World Cup-squad announcement news, Jain failed to give his verdict. In fact, he is yet to deliver his verdict as Rahul and Pandya await their World Cup fate.

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Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul’s World Cup Participation In Big Doubt
Credits: BCCI

One of the members of the Supreme Court-CoA said that the delays was indeed surprising. CoA had handed the matter to the the newly-appointed ombudsman.

“We were hoping to get a report from the ombudsman, but haven’t received anything as yet. The team for the World Cup has been picked and the fate of the players still hangs in balance,” the member was quoted as saying by Cricket Country.

“Yes, they have served a temporary suspension and were called back from Australia, but you cannot decide on behalf of the ombudsman. If the ombudsman feels that they have paid for their act, then also a clean chit does have to officially come from him,” the member added.

Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul’s World Cup Participation In Big Doubt
Credits: BCCI

Another BCCI functionary said that if the two players are handed any form of suspension, the selectors will have to bring in players who are on the stand-by list.

“Well, the Indian board does have the provision to make changes to the squad till May 23 without needing the approval of the ICC’s Event Technical Committee. If a scenario does arise wherein these players are ruled out, then the selectors will pick from the stand-by players. Hopefully such a situation won’t come,” the functionary said.

Meanwhile, Ambati Rayudu, Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini and Axar Patel are the five players named as standbys for the World Cup. The World Cup will get underway on May 30 with India set to open their campaign against South Africa on June 5.

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