15 May,2009 08:07 AM IST | | Sonal Chawla
B-town starlets have always shared an interesting chemistry with both Indian and international cricketers. The latest addition to that list are Shamita Shetty and Shane Warne.
Interestingly, Shane is theu00a0 captain-cum-coach of the Rajasthan Royals, co-owned by Shamita's sister Shilpa
It is learnt that Shamita and Shane grew close during this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) tour. Reveals a source, "Warne is known to be a ladies' man. He met the younger Shetty just once before the IPL.
They spent time during early post-win celebrations while in South Africa. Since then, they've bonded and kept in touch. The actress is familiar with Shane's colourful past and is wisely keeping her distance."
And so, while the matches were on in Cape Town, the players were put up at The Southern Sun, Cape Sun hotel. Meanwhile, Shamita was staying at The One And Only Hotel in Cape Town with sister Shilpa and her beau Raj.
Chupke-chupke
Sources claimed Shane was seen cosying up to Shamita at a South African nightclub. When the media got wind of it and landed up there, Shamita took the back exit and left.
On her link-up with Shane, she insists, "I've interacted with him only three times." About being seen at a club with him, she retorts, "It was a match-win party where all my friends and family were present and so were the RR players,u00a0 Warne included. I wasn't there with him all alone."
Captain Incorrigible
Warne's private life has been overrun by several scandals, gleefully reported by British tabloids. He came under criticism for texting a woman while on tour in South Africa in 2003 and was accused of sending lewd messages to her. However, the woman who made the claims (Helen Cohen Alon) was subsequently charged with extortion in her own country.
In 2000, he had been stripped of the Australian vice-captaincy after bombarding a British nurse with erotic text messages. He was also involved in an altercation with teenagers who took a photo of him smoking; Warne had accepted sponsorship of a nicotine patch company in return for quitting smoking.
Further allegations of Warne having extramarital affairs broke out in 2005 as Australia began its tour of England in preparation for The Ashes. In 2005, Warne and his wife Simone Callahan announced that they had decided to separate.
May 2006, the News of the World published pictures of Warne standing in his underwear with a pair of 25-year-old models, as well as explicit text messages allegedly from Warne.
April 2007, Warne and his wife were reported to be getting back together. However, in September 2007, Simone returned to Australia from England after her husband had accidentally sent a text message meant for another woman to her phone.
Warne's history of high-profile marital infidelities inspired Australian singer-songwriter Kevin Bloody Wilson's 2003 music video The Shane Warne Song as well as a line about his wife in Tim Minchins' Some People Have It Worse Than Me.
