 Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir was reprimanded by the IPL chief Lalit
Modi for calling Rajasthan an ordinary team. This happened after the game between
the Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals during the post match conference.
When asked whether he was worried about the opposition winning the game, Gambhir
replied in the negative and said that the only player they were worried about
was Yusuf Pathan. He added, "I think Rajasthan was never a threat. Except
for Yusuf Pathan, the other guys were pretty ordinary. We thought Yusuf
was the only danger-man and didn't bother too much about anyone else"
Then, Gambhir was reported by the IPL chairman, Lalit Modi, who invoked the
Level 1 offence (section 2.1.7), which relates to "Public criticism of,
or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in a Match or
any Player, Team Official, Match Official or Team participating in any Match,
irrespective of when such criticism or inappropriate is made."
Gambhir pleaded guilty for the same and was reprimanded by the President of
the IPL. The minimum penalty for this Level 1 offence is a reprimand, whereas
the maximum is a 50% fine for the side.
Gambhir also said that he considers IPL to be only a cricketing event and not
an entertainment one.
He also added that the Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh is just out of
form and should not be pressurised and castigated in the media for no rhyme
or reason. Gambhir said that Yuvraj Singh has been a match winner in the past
and has won matches very regularly for India and should be left alone.
Yuvraj Singh has played in all the eight games of the tournament so far and
scored only around 140 runs. This has meant that the Kings side has lost seven
out of the eight games which has led to the speculation that there was a rift
in the team.
Yuvraj himself came out to talk to the media and denied that there was any
rift in the team or that he was deliberately underperforming. He also added
that the lack of form was because he was returning back after a long time from
2-3 successive injuries that had hit him before the start of the tournament.
Kumar Sangakkara had taken over the captaincy of the side, and it was reported
in Times of India, that Yuvraj Singh wanted to shift to Mumbai Indians. However,
the owner, Ness Wadia had refused and from then on, it is alleged that
Yuvraj hasn't really performed to his potential.
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