Navjot Singh Sidhu, former India batsman and Bhartiya Janata Party member of Lok Sabha from Amritsar [Images], defended Dean Jones and said that the International Cricket Council should not take a harsh view of his comments.

Jones was sacked by Tensports for making a racist comment against South African cricketer Hashim Amla during the fourth day of the Test between Sri Lanka [Images] and South Africa.

Jones called Amla a "terrorist" on air and was immediately sacked by the sports channel. The former player left for Australia and later apologised, saying that the comment was "stupid and insensitive" and he was sorry if it offended anyone.

"In the heat of the moment one sometimes says things that should not have been said in the first place. I would side with Jones and say that he should be pardoned and the ICC [Images] should not press the matter further if he has already tendered an apology," Sidhu told rediff.com.

Sidhu also lost his assignment for making harsh comments against Ganguly and some other players for a major television channel few years back.