PUNE: After Pakistan, now it’s the turn of Australian cricketers to face the ire of seriously ailing Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Angered by the constant attacks on Indian students in Australia, Thackeray in a front page editorial in Sena mouthpiece “Saamna” published on Wednesday, lashed at the Australian government and warned that the Sena would not allow Australian cricketers to step in Mumbai or rest of Maharashtra. Also, the Australian team would not be allowed to play any Test or One-day games in any part of Maharashtra. “I have declared a total ban on the Australian cricketers,” Thackeray wrote.
Commenting on the frequent attacks on Indians in Australia, “I am concerned, anguished and angry about the murderous assault on the Indians in Australia.
The Sena had earlier put such a ban on Pakistani cricketers and the Sena workers had even dug up the pitch at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai and poured oil on it to prevent any match between Pakistan and India. And now Thackeray had ordered the “no entry’ for the Australians.
“We will not allow kangaroo cricketers to play in Mumbai and Maharashtra till the attacks on Indians are stopped,” the ageing Thackeray wrote.
“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?”
Thackeray praised movie legend Amitabh Bachchan for refusing an award from Queensland University in protest against the attacks on students in Australia.
“I would have been happy if our cricketers too had shown similar self-respect in the matter,” he wrote. “But cricket has become a game of money, and self-respect and patriotism have taken a back-seat.”
