IPL 2019: BCCI not happy with Rajasthan Royals naming Steve Smith captain

Rajasthan Royals shocked the cricket fraternity by naming Australia’s Steve Smith as captain for the remainder of the Indian Premier League 2019 matches, as the franchise hopes for a turnaround in an otherwise dismal tournament for them. Rajasthan find themselves on the seventh spot in the IPL points table with 6 points and 3 wins from 9 matches.

Royals’ team management, on the day of their encounter against Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium announced that Ajinkya Rahane was being sacked as captain, which left many whether the decision came a bit too late and if Smith was the correct choice, given that he leaves for Australia in a short while as he is part of Australia’s ICC World Cup squad.

On top of that, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is apparently unhappy with the Royals’ team management’s decision of naming Smith as the leader, even as Rajasthan looks to turn around their fortunes.

BCCI feels that CA’s mandate also meant Smith shouldn’t captain in IPL 

Apart from banning Steve Smith and David Warner for a year each for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal, they were also barred from holding captaincy and leadership roles for a year after their bans ended, meaning that they couldn’t captain the international or domestic team for a year more.

“The CoA had taken note of Cricket Australia’s decision to ban the players and simultaneously banned them for the last edition of the IPL. What happens to the ban on captaincy then? Doesn’t that also count? Or is the implementation of CA’s ruling only as per convenience? The franchise must answer that as also the Committee of Administrators (CoA) must take note,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by India Today.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) feels that while the board had taken notice of Cricket Australia’s decision to ban Smith and David Warner and banned them from participation in IPL 2018, then the matter of captaincy should also have been kept in mind. This means that Rajasthan Royals shouldn’t have named Smith captain of the franchise when they decided to replace Ajinkya Rahane at the helm.

“Leaving everything aside, the ICC constitution says that if one full member makes a call, the other must also follow it and that is why countries didn’t release their players for the ICL as it didn’t have the backing of the BCCI,” he further added.

[interaction id=”5cb5c7d16fdf9a9036e425e8″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.