Ball tampering row: BCCI bars Steve Smith, David Warner out of IPL 2018

Aftermath the ball-tampering scandal, both were also banned from playing for Australia for a year

The Supreme Court-appointed committee of administrators (CoA) for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday banned Steve Smith, and David Warner from this year's Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018. This is a result of the ball-tampering revelation in the recently concluded Australia-South Africa test match. 

Smith was captain for Rajasthan Royals; Warner with Sunrisers Hyderabad. The decision was taken by the CoA in consultation with BCCI acting president C K Khanna, IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla and BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary.  

The governing body of Indian cricket stated, “BCCI hopes the cricketers participating in the IPL hold the highest regard for the spirit of cricket and code of conduct for players and match officials. The replacement of players will be made available for the IPL franchises concerned." 

In a recent test match against South Africa, Cameron Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball on camera. The ball was not found altered at the time the umpires suspected foul play but Bancroft and Smith admitted to ball-tampering after the day’s play. 

In the following days, Smith resigned from the post of captain, as did his deputy, Warner. On Monday, Smith was replaced as captain of Rajasthan Royals with Ajinkya Rahane. Warner stepped down from the position of Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain hours before BCCI announced the ban.

The IPL is no stranger to controversies. In the past it has dealt with franchise ownership issues, media rights spats, and, most notably, the betting and match fixing scandal of 2013. 

The tournament has also seen spats between the official broadcaster, Star India, and TV distribution platforms. Sources reveal the broadcaster is trying to increase the rates for both its sports channels and the non-sports ones, which will air the IPL.

Star India and Airtel Digital TV are presently embroiled in a public spat around the pricing of the broadcast network’s channels on the DTH (direct-to-home) platform. Last Friday, Star issued a video on Twitter, ‘warning’ Airtel Digital TV customers about an impending price hike for HD channels. The video, which uses clips from various films and cricket matches, ‘informs’ viewers that the HD channels which cost Rs 200 right now could cost Rs 1000 in the coming days.

It added the channels could be had at the current (Rs 200) rate if customers changed their service provider. The last frame of the 30-second video carries‘make the switch’ hashtag with names of six distribution platforms, both DTH and cable digital. These being Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Hathway, GTPL, Den Networks, and Fast Way.

The Star India campaign was in response to messages by Airtel to its customers that Star network channels could go off-air after March 31 if the contract renewals did not take place. “Star network has increased tariffs of its channels, which will result in higher pack prices for you. To protect your interests, Star network channels will be temporarily withdrawn from your packs with effect from March 31,” the DTH operator said.

It then responded to Star India’s campaign with: “We are shocked at the malicious, misleading and defamatory campaign, based on blatant lies, being run by Star TV. However, there is no truth in Star TV’s assertion that Airtel Digital TV is unilaterally increasing prices of Star TV channels across its packs. We urge customers and public at large not to fall for these lies.”  

Airtel alleged the broadcaster was using arm-twisting tactics to monetise the IPL, a property it won the media rights to for a Rs 163.5 billion. The rights are valid for TV and digital platforms globally over the 2018-22 IPL seasons.