David Warner has stepped down as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Indian Premier League franchise announced on Wednesday.
Warner, 31, had earlier temporarily resigned as Australia’s vice-captain during the third Test against South Africa after the team was embroiled in a ball-tampering controversy.
Warner, captain Steve Smith and opener Cameron Bancroft were sent home by Cricket Australia after being announced as the only three people among the squad and support staff who knew about the plan to tamper with the ball.
“In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad,” Sunrisers Hyderabad CEO K Shanmugam was quoted as saying. “The new captain of the team will be announced shortly.”
India batsman Shikhar Dhawan and all-rounder Bhuvneshwar Kumar are likely options to replace Warner as skipper, as is New Zealand captain Kane Williamson
SRH wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha had said that the team has enough bench strength to replace Warner, who is facing a lengthy ban from Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering scandal.
Smith had earlier also announced his resignation as captain of the Rajasthan Royals franchise. The 28-year-old had admitted that the Australian team’s “leadership group” had devised a plan to tamper with the ball during the third Test against South Africa.
This was after Bancroft was caught by television cameras hiding a small piece of yellow paper inside his trousers. The 25-year-old revealed later that it was a bit of sticky paper that the Australians were using to rough up one side of the ball in order to get it to reverse swing faster.
Cricket Australia announced on Tuesday that Smith, Warner and Bancroft are facing “significant” sanctions once their investigation is complete. However, the board ruled that head coach Darren Lehmann had no role to play in the scandal.