Straightforward

At the presentation after the IPL match of Delhi versus Rajasthan, Gambhir had said, “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.”

This was reported to the IPL commissioner, Lalit Modi, who promptly reprimanded him. Gambhir's response is classic,

I’m going to say a few things here that might not make people happy, but I think they need to be said. First, I can’t live my life by what people in general think of me, or what I say.I don’t believe in saying things I don’t mean. If you’re looking for platitudes or banal gestures, I don’t think you’ll get that from me. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, I’m not, but I also can’t be a hypocrite.

Confucius said “Straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness” In India, any straightforward comment is taken as rude and, if it comes from an young person, is taken to be arrogant. BCCI (and more so, IPL) is like the playground bully. Recently, it stopped four Indians in participating in county cricket.

The most perverse case is that of Laxman. He hasn't been part of India's limited-overs plans for years, and it's doubtful whether he will get an IPL contract next season. To deny him a stint with Lancashire is nothing short of restraint of trade. In a recent interview, Dravid spoke of how difficult it had been to mentally adjust to not playing all the time after he was jettisoned from the one-day squad. For Laxman, who has played only Tests for years, any match practice is valuable. With (yet another) series in Sri Lanka scheduled for July-August, denying him a few hits in the early part of summer makes no sort of sense at all.

Indian science is not very different.