'His sin was that he made public a certain lifestyle that was to be kept within the confines of those sweaty dressing rooms,' says Sreehari Nair.
All those speaking for and against the BCCI's suspension of Hardik Pandya seem to have overlooked the most obvious fact: This isn't a reprimand for crass behaviour, but a reprimand for spilling insider secrets.
Before we christen our cricketers the guardians of our moral hygiene, let us see them for what they are: Young, sporty, energetic 20 something year olds in the season of the rising sap.
Acknowledging this demographic would give us access to another painful but undeniable truth: These heroes of ours aren't wrong in having an active sexual appetite.
Like those late Romans, orgies are, perhaps, how they celebrate conquests.
The middle class values with which they were brought up -- and ones that most of us still use to organise our daily existences -- don't matter to them anymore.
One look at their faces and you know they betray a social connection between sex, power, violence, and money -- because frankly, that's how this present lot plays the game. (I know this news would distress you or put you off from sending your cherubic little one to cricket coaching, but there you are!)
It's stupid to expect these international cricketers -- who, by the way, have all earned their cream -- to behave like a bunch of Homme Moyen Sensuels. They would not!
As for the BCCI's dog in this whole fight, you cannot fault them for providing these cricketers outlets for satisfying their hedonistic impulses.
Accept it; it's part of the package: They do their victory laps and go explore the many levels of pleasure.
My point, thus, is this: You would have to be an innocent of a very special grade to believe Hardik Pandya's sin was a display of misogyny or racism.
Oh no!
His sin was that he made public a certain lifestyle that was to be kept within the confines of those sweaty dressing rooms.
He broke the 'Dirty Gentleman's Code'.
He let the vermin out.
And in doing this, he may have jeopardised the swinging lives of those other gentlemen cricketers who maintain separate clubs for tea and cocktail.
He may have spoken for all of them; taken a bite out of their suburban sausage as well.
In conclusion, we would see the BCCI's punishment for what it really is: But for that, we'd have to keep our self-righteousness aside for some time.
