Two Delhi Under-23 Players Sent Back For Allegedly Misbehaving With Female Hotel Staff

The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association has decided to send back two players of their Delhi U-23 team playing the CK Nayudu Trophy for allegedly misbehaving with a female staff of a Kolkata hotel. The incident took place in a hotel in Kolkata where the players were staying, and the players in question are Kuldeep Yadav and Lakshay Thareja.

The Times of India reported that although no official complain has been lodged, DDCA has sent its Director Sanjay Bhardwaj to look into the matter.

"Sanjay Bhardwaj is in Kolkata. The two boys are not playing the match against Bengal that started today. They are being sent back home for this serious breach of conduct. What we are hearing that they allegedly knocked on the doors of a female staffer and were identified by CCTV footage," a senior DDCA official said.

"Luckily, there has been no police complaint after the Delhi team tendered an unconditional apology to the hotel authorities.

Thareja has played one List-A match for Delhi, featuring in a Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Chhattisgarh in October 2018 and scored a half-century. Kuldeep, on the other hand, is a fast bowler, who was expected to replace Ishant Sharma in Delhi's next Ranji Trophy match against Punjab.

"With Ishant being unavailable and Pawan Suyal not in great shape, we would have required Kuldeep to partner Simar (Simarjeet) in the next game. Now we need to wait if DDCA takes any disciplinary action against these kids," a selector said.

Another DDCA official told IANS: "While they are claiming that they were only talking loudly in the corridor and knocked on a couple of doors in a playful manner, there is more to it and needs investigating and the players might be suspended for a lengthy period of time."