MELBOURNE: Spin legend Shane Warne on
Thursday denied having a heated argument with his former captain Ricky Ponting
over the Australian cricketers’ participation in this year’s Indian Premier
League and said he had no apprehensions about playing in the Twenty20
extravaganza starting next month.

“There was no heated disagreement
between me and Ricky,” said Warne, who led the Jaipur-based Rajasthan Royals to
a fairytale triumph in the first edition of the cash-awash league.

“We’re mates, we get along fine. There were a lot of people asking
(Australian Cricketers Association chief executive) Paul Marsh for clarity on
some issues. I think that’s healthy. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion,”
Warne was quoted as saying by ‘The Daily Telegraph’.

A report in
‘The Australian’, however, claimed that the cricketers were “at each other’s
throats” during a security briefing in Sydney on Wednesday.

According
to the daily, freelance former players like Warne, Matthew Hayden and Adam
Gilchrist are all for playing in the IPL, while majority of the Cricket
Australia-contracted players are little cagey about it.

“It is
understood the past players, including Shane Warne, Matthew Hayden and Adam
Gilchrist clashed with Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting during the meeting,”
the report claimed, quoting sources.

ACA chief executive Paul Marsh,
however, was confident that the players would show solidarity till the issue is
resolved.

“That’s something we are still working through, it’s the
way we have operated in the past and I guess we have a couple of weeks to work
through that,” Marsh said.

Warne, meanwhile, said that with the
Indian government throwing its weight behind IPL’s security contractor Nicholls
Steyn, there should not be worry for the players.

“I think the
development overnight is that the Indian Government is going to get behind
Nicholls Steyn, the IPL security people, (and) ramp up security for the
players,” he said.

“That will give the players comfort, and that was
the main aim of the players’ association. I think it’s going to work pretty
well,” said Warne.