According to the latest reports, the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals has decided to sack Steve Smith as captain in the IPL after the Australian Sports Commission (ASC), which comes under the Australian government, on Sunday asked the cricket board to remove him “immediately”. After getting banned for two years from IPL, the last thing RR wanted was to appoint a corrupt captain. On Saturday, Smith acknowledged the ball-tampering charges during the third day of the third Test match at Newlands against South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday.

In a statement, ASC chair John Wylie and CEO Kate Palmer said, “Given the admission by Australian captain Steve Smith, the ASC calls for him to be stood down immediately by Cricket Australia, along with any other members of the team leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of, or involvement in, the plan to tamper with the ball.”

Absolute shocker from the Australian cricket team. Captain #SteveSmith confesses to #balltampering.. #Bancroft admits that he tried to tamper with the condition of the ball, with the consent of the leadership group.. #SAvAUS #AUSvSA #sandpapergate pic.twitter.com/v6Pqn8UqWH

— Muthupandimani Arumugam (@Muthupandimani1) March 24, 2018

It further added, “The ASC condemns cheating of any form in sport. The ASC expects and requires that Australian teams and athletes demonstrate unimpeachable integrity in representing our country…The Australian cricket team are iconic representatives of our country. The example they set matters a great deal to Australia and to the thousands of young Australians playing or enjoying the sport of cricket and who look up to the national team as role models.”

Also read: Bancroft and Steve Smith accepts ball-tampering charges

After the discussion with David Warner and Smith, Chief executive James Sutherland said, “I understand that that is not necessarily the fullness of response that everyone is looking for right now. But you will appreciate that there’s an element of the process that needs to be undertaken here. We will work very hard over the next couple of days to get to the bottom of it — to understand the big picture, to understand the detail and to be making further comment on that in due course.”

A simply astonishing confession from Australia captain Steve Smith and batsman Cameron Bancroft 😳 pic.twitter.com/YaE7fBZamq

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 24, 2018

Television footage clearly shows that Smith’s teammate Cameron Bancroft, taking a yellow object out of his pocket while fielding in the post-lunch session and appearing to rub it on the ball. He was later charged with attempting for ball-tampering.

Sutherland said that it is obvious that the Australian cricket fans will wake up and not be proud of the team. There were widespread disbelief and anger in Australia as the news hit the headlines on Sunday morning, with Smith’s predecessor Michael Clarke saying he was feeling “pretty emotional”.