Australia great Steve Smith has served his two-year ‘captaincy ban’ period and is eligible to take over as the national team’s captain once again. The trio of Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft was banned for their role in the infamous ball-tampering saga; where Junior Bancroft was given the task to rub the sandpaper on the ball, which he did.
The opening batsman successfully managed to deceive the on-field umpires but was caught when the video was shown on the giant screen on the ground. As a result of the act, Cricket Australia banned Smith and Warner for one year each while Bancroft was sanctioned for nine months. Besides that, CA had also announced a 24-month captaincy ban for Smith. Warner isn’t eligible to captain Australia again.
They were allowed to play IPL, county cricket, other T20 leagues and grade cricket but were barred from participating in Big Bash League and Australia’s domestic tournaments. BCCI also banned Smith and Warner from IPL 2018 edition while Bancroft saw his county contract with Somerset being cancelled.
Since Bancroft’s ban ended in December 2018, he made his comeback in BBL 2019/20. He also made his Test comeback and opened in the first two Ashes Test matches.
Smith and Warner played Global T20 Canada, Caribbean Premier League and Bangladesh Premier League during the ban period. They made their international comebacks through IPL and made it to the World Cup 2019 squad.
