Rajkot, Feb.26 : BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah has said that the Australians should avoid sledging.

Hitting out at the Australian cricket team for indulging in sledging and provoking the Indians, Shah said such behaviour by the hosts was unnecessary and not good for the game.

"The way the Australians are behaving is not good (for the game). They should not sledge our team members. It's not necessary," said Shah.

Shah was reacting to the happenings during the Sydney tri-series tie on Sunday in which Aussie all-rounder Andrew Symonds provoked young Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma for which the latter was docked 15 per cent of his match fees by ICC match referee Jeff Crowe.

"They (Aussies) should restrain from such things and not get into another problem", Shah said.

But he did not comment on the complaint lodged by Indian manager Vimal Soni about the Aussies' behaviour with the match referee.

Shah defended Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his comments after Sunday's loss to Australia wherein the wicketkeeper had asked the senior players to start delivering the goods.

"He's the captain and whatever advise he (Dhoni) wants to give (to his teammates) he can give," the BCCI secretary said.

Shah also said the World Cup under-19 team which has reached the semi-finals in Kuala Lumpur would be protected from being distracted by franchises eager to recruit them for the 18th April-1st June Indian Premier League.

ANI