Zip your lips

Not long ago Virender Sehwag received no more than media brickbats – and ran the risk of public humiliation - when he called Bangladesh an ordinary side, then sticking by what he said when his India team were run close. Now Sehwag’s good friend and captain at Delhi Daredevils, Gautam Gambhir, has found himself reprimanded by the IPL for expressing similar sentiments about Rajasthan Royals. He narrowly escaped a fine too, and possibly a spell in the corner of the classroom.

These were his remarks after Delhi had crushed Rajasthan on Wednesday night: "I think Rajasthan was never a threat. Except for Yusuf Pathan, the other guys were pretty ordinary. We weren't really worried about anyone else." Forget whether Gambhir’s remarks were justified and focus on the content: anything remotely racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory? Doesn’t seem so. Instead, Gambhir’s remarks were a breath of fresh air, for their honesty and directness, in a tournament overflowing with platitudes and hyperbole. The IPL has done the right thing in coming down hard on slow over-rates but is clearly overstepping the mark here. No more can Kevin Pietersen call Yuvraj Singh a pie-chucker (or even comment on Test cricket being a man’s game), Sehwag had better watch what he says and it’s just as well, perhaps, that the sharp-tongued Graeme Swann isn’t around. And Ian Bishop had better hope he doesn’t get a call for observing – on air! - that the fielding in the IPL over the last week has been ordinary.