The Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has met the Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackery to ask him not to oppose the participation of Australian players in the IPL.

The meeting was also attend the by the BCCI chief Shashank Manohar and Bal Thackeray’s son Uddav. The meeting was on for about 2 hours.

Commenting about it the BCCI president Shashank Manohar said, "We presented our viewpoint before Thackeray on this critical issue".

He also said that they tried to convince Thackeray on this issue as it may affect few local Marathi players.

"We also explained to them the format of the IPL teams and matches and how there were one or two Australian players in each team. Thackeray has asked for a detailed presentation on the issue which we will be providing in couple of days and thereafter he would consider our request"—he said.

It is to be noted that Home Minister P Chidambaram has announced that the government will give enough security to IPL this season.