Former India cricketer Ashok Malhotra on Wednesday apologized for his harsh remarks in which he labeled the Assam players of his time as “second-class citizens”.
Taking to his official X handle, Malhotra wrote, “I apologise profusely if I have hurt Assam people’s sentiments with my comments during the Assam v Bengal game last evening. I am sorry. It was totally unintentional & was trying to speak about their progress. I regret it and give an unconditional apology.”
This comes after Assam Cricket Association (ACA) president Taranga Gogoi had a telephonic conversation with BCCI secretary Jay Shah today expressing his concern over the issue.
A formal complaint was also lodged by the ACA in connection to the matter.
Jay Shah immediately assured to take strict action against the commentator and former cricketer for his discriminatory mindset.
Malhotra made the remark after Bengal suffered a shock loss to Assam by 8-wickets in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy pre-quarterfinals in Mohali on Tuesday.
Riyan Parag and Bishal Roy’s unbeaten partnership of 95 runs in 67 balls helped Assam to reach the target of 139 runs for the loss of two wickets in the 17.5 over.
The Assam team handsomely outplayed its neighbours to reach the quarter final.
For Assam, Rishabh Das also contributed 31 runs in 26 balls while batting second.
Meanwhile, Riyan shined at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with his unbeaten 50 runs in 31 balls. It was his seventh fifty in a row, which is highly commendable. He also managed to get two wickets and gave 23 runs in his four over spell.
Earlier, Assam won the toss and elected to field first.
They managed to restrict Bengal batters on 138 in 20 overs.
For Bengal, Karan Lal scored 24 in 20 balls while Abishek Porel and A R Easwaran scored 23 in 16 balls and 21 in 15 balls respectively.
