Reports: Cricket Australia likely to lift David Warner's leadership ban

Australian opener David Warner has been in great form recently. Not just for his national side, but he was seen smashing some good runs with the bat even in IPL 2022. But his journey has not been that easy. The prolific batter had to face a one-year ban from all forms of the game for his involvement in the infamous ball-tampering controversy.

The ban restricted him from not just playing cricket but also took away the vice-captaincy from him as he faced a lifetime ban from the leadership role. But as per recent developments, it is being said that the ban on the Australian might come to an end soon, thereby making him eligible for the captaincy role in the team.

As per a report by Ben Horne of the News Corp Australia, in the wake of the 2018 “Sandpaper-gate” controversy, Cricket Australia (CA) may reconsider the leadership suspension enforced on the former national vice-captain. It is learned that the main cause of this is the likelihood of losing him to a cash-rich, competing T20 league. Warner’s potential interest in a captaincy position among Big Bash League teams suggests that CA will rethink its decision to reinstate Warner’s eligibility for such positions.

Notably, the then skipper Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and opener Cameron Bancroft were all given suspensions by CA after pleading guilty to ball-tampering during the 2018 Test match in Cape Town against South Africa. Bancroft received a nine-month suspension, while Warner and Smith received a 12-month ban each from all international and Australian domestic cricket.

David Warner made a worthy comeback into international cricket

Smith’s sentence also included an additional 12-month leadership ban. In that regard, Warner was handed a lifetime captaincy ban after it was determined that he had plotted the scheme to use sandpaper to alter the state of the ball. Nevertheless, Warner’s outstanding performance in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup helped him successfully make a comeback to international cricket.

He was Australia’s standout performer at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, winning the Player-of-the-Tournament award. His stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad also came to an end as the franchise let him go and decided not to retain him after his poor show last season. Nevertheless, the 35-year-old made a massive comeback and put up some remarkable performances for the Delhi Capitals this year, thereby proving to be an X-factor for the side.