MELBOURNE, Feb 10 (PTI): Stopping Australian cricketers from playing in IPL is not the right way to protest violent attacks on Indians living Down Under, said the Federation of Indian Students Association (FISA), urging the Shiv Sena to withdraw its threat.

Shiv Sena party has threatened to stop Aussie cricketers from playing in Mumbai during the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has prompted BCCI chief Shashank Manohar to meet the right-wing party’s chief Bal Thackeray on the issue.

FISA said Sena’s approach was not correct and Aussie players should not be targetted.

“We will ask them (Shiv Sena) to withdraw sanctions and indeed welcome them as partners of all Indians in Australia,” FISA spokesman Gautam Gupta said at a press conference along with Cricket Australia spokesperson Peter Young and Victorian coach Greg Shipperd here today here.

Gupta said he would write to Thackeray on the matter as such threats would only make life difficult for the Indian students here.

“Till now, the victims were only poor Indian students. Now, the controversy has taken wide proportions and has engulfed players too. The recent (Shiv Sena) stand may make it very difficult for students,” Gupta said.

“We see cricket as an important tool to develop and grow this relationship,” he added.

Alam submits report on Pakistan’s poor show

Karachi, Feb 10 (PTI): Underfire Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has submitted his report to the Cricket Board on the national team’s dismal showDown Under but refused to divulge details. Pakistan were whitewashed in the both Test and One-day series and also lost the lone twenty20 international against Australia.

“Obviously it is a confidential document which I can’t share in public. But I have tried to cover all aspects of the tour and hopefully it will be of some help to the Board to understand the reasons for our defeats,” Alam told PTI.

Alam and Mohammad Yousuf were recently summoned by the six-member inquiry committee constituted by the Board to probe into the disastrous show in Australia.

The first hearing of the inquiry committee, headed by PCB COO Wasim Bari, is scheduled on Friday. Alam said there were many reasons for the team’s poor performances and “the most common being was below standard fielding and lack of application in batting.”

Alam refused to comment on the media reports that some players showed indiscipline during the tour, but confirmed that stumper batsman Kamran Akmal, who has been ignored for theTwenty20 series against England in Dubai, was issued a show cause notice by the team management.