David Warner has stepped down as captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad. A final decision on his participation in the Indian Premier League will be subject to the Cricket Australia stand on the players involved in the ball tampering scandal during the third Test against Hosts Proteas.
Warner, captain Steve Smith, and young batsman Cameron Bancroft have been sent home from South Africa.
Warner, having been stripped of his position as the vice-captain of the Australian national cricket team in the wake of the ball-tampering controversy, has decided to step down as the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The Indian Premier League franchisee has confirmed the development in a tweet.
“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.” – K.Shanmugam, CEO, SunRisers Hyderabad
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 28, 2018
Shikhar Dhawan, who had led the Sunrisers in 2014, is likely to replace Warner. An official announcement is expected soon.
On Monday, Smith had stepped down from his position as the captain of Rajasthan Royals. Ajinkya Rahane has since been named to lead the IPL team.
Warner was also the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2016 season. The Hyderabad IPL franchisee had retained the hard-hitting Aussie in a ₹12.5 crore deal.
Warner along with skipper Smith may be slapped with a one-year ban by Cricket Australia. In such a scenario, the two seasoned pros are expected to lose close to ₹20 crore in cricketing contracts and match fee.
Also Read: Smith, Warner face ₹20 crore monetary blows in 1-year ban
Meanwhile, Warner is set to suffer more financial losses. Multinational electronics company LG has already announced that it will not renew its brand endorsement contract with the batsman in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa
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