Former Australian skipper, Steve Smith will undergo surgery on his elbow and is expected to be wearing a brace for the next six weeks. He received a ban for a year from Cricket Australia (CA) as he was involved in the ball-tampering scandal which erupted in Cape Town in 2018. Smith’s ban will be lifted in March but due to the injury, he has been ruled out of the ongoing season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
It now seems Smith’s return to international cricket could be delayed. His ban is scheduled to be finished in March but it remains to be seen how soon he can return to competitive cricket after his surgery. At the ongoing season of BPL, Steve has registered the scores of 16 and 0 for Comilla Victorians. After the two games, Smith had to pull out to take care of his elbow injury.
Smith went for scans on Saturday and it revealed that he will be going under the knife next week and wait at least six weeks before knowing just how severe the injury is and in turn, the rehabilitation period. In the meantime, it has been learned that he has been ruled out of the next edition’s IPL, which is set to start on March 23. He was earlier retained by the Rajasthan Royals (RR), ahead of the auction after he missed the tournament last year following the controversy in South Africa.
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Describing the same, a Cricket Australia spokesperson said: “Steve Smith will undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair a ligament in his right elbow. He is expected to wear a brace for six weeks before commencing rehabilitation. Return to play time frames will be clearer once the brace has been removed.”
Earlier this week, Australia lost their first ever Test series to an Asian side in history. Following the 1-2 defeat to India, calls grew for Smith and David Warner to return from their bans. Cameron Bancroft, who was banned after his involvement in the ball-tampering row, completed his nine-month ban and went on to score a fifty in the Big Bash League.
In his recent interview, Smith made made some explosive revelations about the scandal. Speaking to Fox Cricket during the Boxing Day Test, Smith said CA officials had told him that Smith and his colleagues were paid to win and not just play.
Former skipper explained, “I remember James Sutherland and Pat Howard coming into the rooms there and saying ‘we don’t pay you to play, we pay you to win’. For me, that was a little bit disappointing, we don’t go out there to try lose games of cricket, we go out there to try and win and play the best way we can.”
