| Shiv Sena puts IPL-III in dock |
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| Monday, 25 January 2010 11:15 |
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With 26 Australian players participating in the tournament, about Rs 35 crore is riding on them. While Mukesh Ambani-owned Mumbai Indians outfit does not have any Australian player, Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers has nearly Rs 9 crore at stake for three players from that country -- Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist and Ryan Harris. Kings XI Punjab, co-owned by Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia, spends almost Rs 7.5 crore for five players, including Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh and James Hopes. Shilpa Shetty co-owned Rajasthan Royals has the maximum Australian players, almost six players worth Rs 5.2 crore. Star Australian players like Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist, who represent Deccan Chargers, Shane Warne (captain of Rajasthan Royals) and Brett Lee (Kings XI) are crucial for their teams. Sena's fatwa against Oz cricketers In the wake of attacks on Indians in Australia, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had said his party would not allow the Down Under team to play cricket in Maharashtra. Expressing anguish over the violence against Indians in Australia, Thackeray had said, "Our boys are being stabbed, burnt and shot at in that country and still our cricketers have no qualms in playing with them. Do they have any national pride?". In the Sena announcement banning Australian cricketers in Maharashtra, front-paged in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana', he had recalled that his activists had taken a similar step against Pakistani cricketers who still cannot play in the state. The Sena supremo also had a word of praise for actor Amitabh Bachchan who, he said, displayed a patriotic spirit when he politely refused an award in his honour from Queensland University in protest against the incidents in Australia. "I would have been happy if our cricketers too had shown similar self-respect in the matter. But cricket has become a game of money and self-respect and patriotism have taken a back-seat," Thackeray commented. Oz players may skip Mumbai matches "Credibility of IPL-3 may take a hit if Australian players are not allowed to play in Mumbai. However, due to security reasons, team owners may decide not let their Australian cricketers play in the matches to be held in Mumbai, which maybe just one of the 14 matches," said Indranil Blah, sports manger and former vice-president of Globosport. Mumbai will host 10 matches -- the inaugural one, seven home games, one semi-final and the final. The first match of IPL-3 was originally scheduled for Hyderabad on March 12, but in the backdrop of the agitation over Telangana statehood demand, it was shifted to Mumbai. Sources added if the Telangana issue continued, the seven home matches for Deccan Chargers could be shifted to Mumbai. However, IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi, in a recent press conference, said: "We will look into the matter when we come closer to the tournament. We will take all necessary measures required to conduct the league." The 45-day extravaganza is slated to begin on March 12 and will conclude on April 25. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has been quoted in media reports as saying that his party would not allow Australian cricketers to take part in IPL. Victims of racism Thackeray's outburst comes close on heels to media reports that a 28-year-old Indian living in Australia for more than a decade was beaten up by a group of locals on a beach in Sydney. The man, who refused to be named apparently due to safety reasons, said that he was kicked and punched by the group near Coogee beach. He said he had been living in Australia for the past 11 years and had never experienced such a thing before. Australian cops are also investigating the burning of an Indian man, who was hospitalised in serious condition after he said four men attacked him and set him on fire. Police said the assault, which occurred in Melbourne, did not appear to be racially motivated. But it comes amid growing tension between India and Australia over a highly publicised spate of street violence against Indian students in recent months in Australia's second largest city. Last week, Australia condemned as "deeply offensive" an Indian newspaper cartoon depicting an Australian police officer as a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The attacks have sharply polarized opinion in India and drawn an angry response from both the government and the media. |
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