Steven Smith Now Eligible To Lead Australian Team

Mar 29, 2020 at 3:40 PM

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Steven Smith Now Eligible To Lead Australian Team

Australian star cricketer and the no.1-ranked Test batsman Steven Smith is now eligible for the captaincy role after completing the entire punishment due to involving in the sandpaper gate incident two years ago.

In late March 2018, on the day three of the Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia, the Australian opener Cameron Bancroft was caught in the match video for trying to alter the ball condition by using yellow sandpaper.

Cameron Bancroft
Cameron Bancroft (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Later, it was clarified that then Australian captain Steven Smith and the vice-captain David Warner played leadership roles in that sandpaper gate incident.

Steven Smith, David Warner
David Warner and Steven Smith (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Apart from facing a one-year playing ban, Steven Smith further faced a one-year leadership ban

The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended Smith for one match, handed him four demerit points and also fined him 100% of his match fee. Also, the ICC punished Bancroft by providing him with three demerit points and 75% of the match fee cut.

However, the Cricket Australia (CA) took bold actions as they suspended Smith and Warner for one year each, and Bancroft for nine months. Moreover, after completing their respective suspension periods, Smith and Bancroft also had to face the one-year ban each from the leadership roles while Warner has been banned from the captaincy for the lifetime.

While Bancroft ended his one-year playing ban in late 2018, Smith and Warner started to be available for the national team selection from late March 2019. Since their return, Smith and Warner have mostly performed dominantly and earned back the respect. However, Bancroft has only managed to play two Tests (during the Ashes 2019) after completing his playing ban.

While Bancroft finished his leadership ban in late 2019, Smith just completed his leadership suspension. The former Aussie captain Smith can now return to the captaincy role for the national team.

Steven Smith
Steven Smith (Image Credit: Twitter)

At present, Tim Paine is handling the Australian Test captaincy while Aaron Finch is leading the Australian team in limited-overs formats. Both the captains are doing well at the present moment while the CA hasn’t discussed Smith’s captaincy return to the national team.

Before the suspension, Smith led the Australian team in 93 international matches (34 Tests, 51 ODIs and eight T20Is).

Steven Smith
Steven Smith (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

However, Smith has been chosen to lead the Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the IPL 2020 season. In the middle of the last IPL season, he took up the leadership role of the team after Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals were struggling to perform successfully.

However, due to the COVID-19 or coronavirus outbreak, the IPL 2020 has been postponed, which was initially scheduled from 29th March to 24th May 2020. Recently, Smith has clarified his view on the possibility of the IPL 2020 as he feels that the tournament is not likely to be held according to the current situation.

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