While BCCI is eagerly waiting for the final verdict of Cricket Australia (CA) regarding the ball-tampering involvement of Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, the Indian cricket board made clear that Smith-Warner will be automatically suspended from IPL if CA bans them.
A senior BCCI official told CricketNext, “To be honest, I don’t understand what all the cry is about. If the CA goes ahead and bans them, there is no way that the IPL franchises can accommodate them, just like Andre Russell had to skip the IPL after he was caught violating doping clauses. If CA says that they have decided to ban the two players that is where it all ends for them as far as IPL 11 is concerned. The IPL GC actually has no role.”
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The Aussie trio was directly involved in the recent deliberate ball-tampering scandal. While Bancroft tried to change the ball condition, Smith-Warner were in the leadership role who instructed Bancroft to conduct that incident.
The trio has already been suspended from the last Test of the four-match Test series against the hosts South Africa, while the head coach Darren Lehman remains on his post. Currently, Australia is behind in the series as the hosts are leading by the 2-1 margin.
Soon, CA will announce the final report of that incident and also give the final verdict.
Speaking of that, CA chief executive James Sutherland said, “Prior knowledge of the plan in question was with Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft only. No one knew about the plan other than these three. Darren Lehmann the coach was not in the knowhow and will continue as the coach of the team. All three players will be sent back to Australia on Wednesday and their replacements will come in within 24 hours.”
Sutherland further added, “Darren Lehmann has not resigned or offered to step down as the coach of the team, and will continue in the capacity of coach with the team.”
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Before that scandal, Smith was Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain while Warner was Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain. The incident has forced them to step down from the captaincy, while their IPL fate is still hanging until CA’s final verdict.
Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns are the players who have replaced the suspended trio for the upcoming last Test of the series.
Sutherland also said that nothing is bigger than the spirit of cricket. He stated, “Winning is important but it cannot be done at the cost of the rules. The spirit of cricket is extremely important and it is the duty of every player to uphold the spirit of the game. The response from the public is not terribly surprising. It’s a reminder of how important the game is to Australian fans.”
