No Indian payback fear for Aussies, says Warne

MELBOURNE: Australian leg-spin great Shane Warne says he expects no ill-feeling from Indian fans when he plays in cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL) next month. After an acrimonious summer of Tests and one-day internationals here, there is speculation about what the Indian fans will have in store for Australia when they tour later this year.

Warne, who will captain and coach the Jaipur franchise in the Twenty20 IPL, is one of the four foreign cricketers in the side, along with South African captain Graeme Smith and Pakistan's Younis Khan and Kamran Akmal. "Every single time I've been to India, the Indian fans have been very good, they love their cricket," Warne told reporters here Thursday.

"There's obviously a bit more of an aggressive approach from the Indians at the moment. It's good to have a couple of rivals, some competition from other international sides. "I'm sure both sides will have a look back at a couple of incidents and say, 'We maybe could have handled that differently.'"

Warne is also annoyed the on-field controversies are receiving so much attention. "Let's just move on from all that rubbish. Gee, enough is enough with a lot of that stuff," he said. "Let's just get out and play some cricket." The 38-year-old quit international cricket last year after bagging 708 wickets in 145 Tests and 293 in 194 one-day internationals.

The IPL, brainchild of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is backed by the International Cricket Council and supported by cricket boards around the world.