Australia's ball-tampering hits IPL again: David Warner steps down as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad

In the aftermath of Australia's planned attempt at ball-tampering during the third Test on their tour of South Africa, Warner has stepped down as captain of his IPL franchise SunRisers Hyderabad.

File photo of David Warner with his wife and daughter during a past edition of the IPL (Image: Instagram)

New Delhi: In the aftermath of Australia's planned attempt at ball-tampering during the third Test on their tour of South Africa, David Warner has stepped down as captain of his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise SunRisers Hyderabad.

“In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad. The new captain of the team will be announced shortly,” the franchise's CEO, K.Shanmugam, said via a tweet on the team's official handle.

Warner has already stepped down as Australia's vice-captain, after which he, along with captain Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft, were suspended by Cricket Australia (CA). However, coach Darren Lehmann got scot-free and will continue to hold his position as the team's coach.

During the third Test, which Australia lost by 322 runs, Smith had admitted that the team's "leadership group" planned to tamper with the ball on the third day of the match when Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball.

CA then launched a probe into the incident and suspended the guilty trio. It will announce sanctions on Smith, Warner, and Bancroft on Thursday.

The ICC also punished Smith and Bancroft for breaching its code of conduct. Smith was banned for a match and fined 100 percent of his match fee, while Bancroft was fined 75 percent of his fee and handed three demerit points.

Smith has also been removed as captain by Rajasthan Royals. The franchise announced Ajinkya Rahane as its new captain for the coming season beginning April 7.

Earlier on Wednesday, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla had said that the committee will talk to Sunrisers Hyderabad about Warner's captaincy.

"I think we should be announcing our decision by tomorrow after looking at the decision of Cricket Australia. We are also going to talk to Sunrisers Hyderabad that they should also consider about Warner being the captain," Shukla had told ANI.