Ahmedabad:
Actor and IPL team Rajasthan Royals celebrity co-owner Shilpa Shetty on Wednesday said the decision to select Pakistan players or not was never based on their nationality.
"The decision to take Pakistani players was based on the availability of the players. Here availability does not mean dates and time we are talking about whether they would be available in India throughout the IPL," Shetty said, adding her team Rajasthan Royals did not want to take that risk.
Shetty and Raj Kundra said the controversy over IPL has affected the spirit of the game.
"What is great about IPL is that when a wicket falls, we see a Pakistani and Indian player hug each other and see an Australian and South African do a hi-fi, I miss that. These controversies have take away the spirit of the game," Shetty said.
What's happening to SRK is unfortunate: ShilpaExtending support to Shah Rukh Khan, it was unfortunate that the actor was being targeted for expressing his opinion.
Shiv Sena has threatened to stall the release of Khan's upcoming film 'My Name Is Khan' after he refused to apologise for his remarks favouring the inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL.
"It is everybody's right to express his opinion. It is a fundamental right. When a film gets affected, the entire industry gets affected. I stand by him as a human being," Shetty said when asked about her take on what was happening with Shah Rukh's film 'My name...' in Mumbai.
"My relationship with Shah Rukh goes beyond films. I have a lot of respect for him. I was introduced in films with him. It is really unfortunate that he has to face brunt of all this," Shetty who was here to launch new music video for the forthcoming IPL season, told media persons here.
"This issue has been already politicised a lot, I do not want add more fuel to the controversy," she added.