Subscribe Now! Get features like

David Warner was suspended for one year for his part in the infamous ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018. The left-handed Australia opener, also the team's vice-captain at that time, was further given a lifetime ban from the leadership role, which meant he would never hold the position within the national side. While Steve Smith's captaincy ban related to the "sandpaper-gate" scandal ended in 2020, Warner still remains to be punished, with his leadership suspension being intact.

Australia great Allan Border has called for Warner's ban to be dissolved, saying the player has “paid his penance” for the actions. Warner, 35, has captained Australia thrice in ODIs and nine times in T20Is.

Also Read | 'He is a must': Shoaib Akhtar hints at cricket legend's appearance in his upcoming biopic 'Rawalpindi Express'

“It was a harsh penalty in the first place let’s get on with it; they’ve served their time. I know that every other side’s doing exactly what we were caught doing. (If) all the captains put their hand on their heart and say ‘I wasn’t doing anything similar’, they’d be telling ‘porky pies’ (lies)," Border told Fox Sports.

“The bans those boys copped were a bit over the top for the crime, given the knowledge around the cricket fraternity where this has been going on. They all had to change the way they went about their cricket,” he added.

As per a Cricket Australia (CA) investigation held in the aftermath of the controversy, while Smith and Bancroft knew what they were getting into, it was Warner who had developed the "plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball".

Border even suggested “natural” ball-tampering and advocated that it's needed to help bowlers remove batters on "very flat tracks".

“Reverse swing is a huge weapon to have at your disposal. On the flattest of wickets, you can still get people out,” said the former Australia skipper.

“There’s one line of thought that you’re not allowed to touch the ball, but there’s also the school of thought that you should allowed, if you get the ball in your hand … just scratching the ball and working on it over a period of time, and you get the ball reverse swinging … what's wrong with that?

“It’s not a bad idea because on flat wickets you need something, otherwise the scores are just going to blow out, and that’s what happens now when we start preparing result wickets, because it’s very hard to get good players out on very flat tracks.”

Greg Chappell has also joined the push for Warner's ban to end, saying that him being singled out is quite unfair. Many players including Test skipper Pat Cummins, have asked CA to lift the leadership role ban on the senior batter.

"He obviously had a central role in what happened but he was not the only one that was involved and I don't know why he should be treated any differently," Chappell said in an interview with Fox Sports.

"He's served his punishment, he is a good leader in the side and no doubt if he had had the opportunity, I'm sure he would have captained the side quite well. I think he's paid his penalty and it's time to open it up for leadership roles."

At HT Sports Desk, passionate reporters work round the clock to provide detailed updates from the world of sports. Expect nuanced match reports, previews,reviews, technical analysis based on statistics, the latest social media trends, expert opinions on cricket, football, tennis, badminton, hockey,motorsports, wrestling, boxing, shooting, athletics and much more. ...view detail

Personalise your news feed. Follow trending topics