Warne approached to help ease tensions between Indians, Australians

Struggling to end the violent attacks on Indians living in Melbourne, Victoria's premier John Brumby has sought spin legend Shane Warne's advice to deal with the tensions between the Indian community and the native Australians.

According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Brumby will meet Warne early next month.

"Victoria Premier John Brumby has booked an early February meeting with Warne to discuss how to address issues stemming from violent attacks on Indians," the newspaper reported.

Indians have been targeted in a string of violent attacks Down Under. The Australian government has, however, maintained that the attacks are opportunistic crimes and not racial.

The Indian community in the city has welcomed Warne's involvement. The retired leg-spinner, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, is immensely popular in India too.

Brumby conceded that the attacks on Indians have damaged bilateral ties to some extent.

"There's a lot of friendship between Australia and India, and this problem we've had in the last year is, sort of, eating away at that relationship," Brumby said.

Meanwhile, Warne said he was willing to help ease the tensions.

"I believe I can make a difference and that's important. If I can help the relationship between the both countries and make a difference and help then I am putting my hand up to do that," the spin king told TV channels in Melbourne.

"Both people are passionate about cricket and sports. This has to stop. It's not right what's happening," he added.

Brumby said Warne's popularity in India and his own understanding of Australia as a country makes him a perfect candidate for the repair work.

"It might be a friendly cricket game. It might be that he does some work for us in India, in terms of just stating the case about what a great place Victoria is, what a great place Australia is.

"He is highly regarded, he is much loved in India, and he has got a great sense of the Australian psyche, so I think these two things can come together and we'll see what we can make out of it to strengthen that Australia-India relationship," Brumby said.