David Warner steps down as captain of IPL team

David Warner has stepped down as captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Sunrisers Hyderabad following his role in the ball-tampering affair that has struck Australian cricket.

"In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad," said K Shanmugam, the Sunrisers CEO, in a tweet posted by the franchise. "The new captain of the team will be announced shortly."

Warner had led the team to the title in 2016. Having joined the team in 2014, he was named captain the following year, and enjoyed a good run of form, finishing on top of the batting charts with 562 runs from 14 matches in 2015. The following year in their title run, he made 848 runs, second on the charts behind Virat Kohli. Ahead of the 2018 season, he was one of two players retained by the franchise, Bhuvneshwar Kumar being the other.

Warner, the Australia vice-captain, Steve Smith, his captain, and their team-mate Cameron Bancroft have been pulled up by Cricket Australia and face significant sanctions after Smith admitted that the “leadership group” had planned to alter the condition of the ball during the Cape Town Test.

Smith and Warner were stood down from their roles. The three players were sent back home from South Africa and are awaiting news of their punishment.

Smith, who was banned for one Test by the International Cricket Council, has already stepped down from his role as captain of the IPL team Rajasthan Royals.