Smith, Warner likely to face one year ban, set to endure INR 20 crore loss

The recent ‘Sandpaper gate’ has potentially shaken Australian cricket to deepest levels. The two players who could be the worst hit due to the aftermath are skipper Steve Smith and his deputy, David Warner. The incident dates back to the third day’s play in the Cape Town Test against South Africa. Aussie cricketer Cameron Bancroft was spotted using external agents on the ball to tamper its conditions.

Following the day’s play, skipper Steve Smith admitted the charges of ball tampering and the world wide condemnation followed. Smith was subsequently handed a ban of one Test match while Bancroft was given three demerit points. Now, there are speculations that David Warner could also face a match ban from the ICC.

CA yet to give their verdict

Furthermore, the Cricket Australia is yet to give their verdict after the investigations. CA is determined to penalize the ones guilty in the tampering incident. Reportedly, coach Darren Lehmann has already agreed to step down from his post. Also, as per the reports in Inside Sport, the CA could potentially ban Steve Smith and David Warner for a year. If that happens, both iconic cricketers could end up losing an amount as high as INR 20 crore.

The breakdown

Currently, Smith has the best central contract from CA worth $1.5 million, best for any international cricket captain. On the other hand, David Warner fetches an annual retainership of $810,000. If the two players are banned for a year, they will end up missing 13 Tests, 24 ODIs and 5 T20Is that Australia are lined up to play in the next 12 months. The Aussies get a match fee of $ 14,000 for each Test, $ 7,000 per ODI and $ 5,000 for each T20I.

Hence, any player who would play in all these matches in next one year would get $370,000 on account of match fee. In addition to these, both Steve Smith and David Warner have mega deals with the Indian Premier League. Steve Smith, who recently stepped down as the captain of the Rajasthan Royals, gets $1.85 million (₹ 12 crores) in the IPL, while Sunrisers Hyderabad pays $1.92 million (₹12.5 crore deal) to Warner.

Also, the losses from the Big Bash League are valued at $150,000. The cumulative sum of all these losses amount up to INR 19.6 crore for David Warner and INR 19.71 crore for Steve Smith.

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