PUNE: The Shiv Sena has said it will take a final call on the issue of Australian cricketers’ participation in the third edition of the IPL, commencing 12 March, in the next two to three days.

The Sena announcement, carried in the party mouthpiece “Saamna”, comes a day after Union Minister Sharad Pawar, who is also Mumbai Cricket Association president, met Sena chief Bal Thackeray and requested the latter to withdraw the Sena threat against Australian cricketers' participation in IPL.

Pawar, accompanied by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar, had met the 84-year-old Thackeray at the latter’s residence “Matoshree” at Bandra in Mumbai. Pawar and Thackeray were closeted together for almost two hours but nothing concrete had emerged from the meeting.

"For me, the country is more important than the game," Saamana had quoted Thackeray as telling Pawar. "I will never tolerate India's insult."

Thackeray had in an editorial in Saamna on January 13 called for a ban of the Australian cricket team playing in Maharashtra, following a series of attacks on Indians in Australia. The Shiv Sena will "not allow Australian cricketers to step on Mumbai's soil," the editorial had threatened. "Indian students are being beaten up. Yet Indian cricketers continue to display sportsmanship in matches between India and Australia. This is shameful," the editorial had derided.

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray had reiterated the threat a few days later. "The IPL should be patriotic. We would not allow Australian players to play here in the wake of racist attacks on Indians there," Uddhav had told reporters in Mumbai on the sidelines of a function held to celebrate Bal Thackeray's 84th birthday.

Although Pawar had declined to comment on the outcome of the Sunday meeting with Thackeray, Manohar told reporters that they had explained to the Sena patriarch about the format of the IPL teams and matches and how there were one or two Australian players in each team. “He (Thackeray) agreed to consider the issue in a couple of days," Manohar said.

Meanwhile, the Congress has not taken kindly to the Pawar-Thackeray meeting. The Congress is of the opinion that Pawar’s initiative was unwarranted since Home Minister P. Chidambaram had already assured the safety to Australian players when playing in Mumbai.

The Shiv Sena has been known in the past for carrying out attacks on cricket pitches as part of its opposition to the resumption of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. In 1999, Sena activists had dug up the cricket pitch at New Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla cricket ground to prevent an India-Pakistan match. Earlier, in 1991, there had been an attack at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

On the threat to the Australian players, the Australian Cricket Association had expressed its concern. "The ACA is concerned any time there is a specific threat made against Australian cricketers," Chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association Paul Marsh has been quoted as saying.

The Australian government has taken Shiv Sena's warning against their cricketers "very seriously", but has permitted the players to choose between taking and not taking a trip to India for the IPL 2010. The Australian players who have been contracted by the different franchises to play in the third edition of the IPL include: Nathan Bracken, Cameron White, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ryan Harris, Andrew Symonds, Andrew McDonald, Glenn McGrath, Mike Hussey, Dirk Nannes, David Warner, James Hopes, Simon Katich, Shaun Marsh, Brad Hodge, David Hussey, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne, Shaun Tait and Shane Watson.