David Warner and Steven Smith have been two of the most high-profile foreign imports into the IPL.
Warner, in particular, has an impressive record. The fifth-highest run scorer in the history of the competition and three-time winner of the Orange Cap, he captained the Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first – and, to date, only – IPL title, in 2016.
Smith, too, has a long, distinguished history in the competition, having played more than 100 times, mostly for the Rajasthan Royals, stretching back to 2012.
Yet, in 2018, both found themselves banned from the league altogether, over events that happened nearly 6,000 miles away from India in Cape Town South Africa.
With Smith as captain and Warner as his deputy, Australia arrived in South Africa to play four Test matches in March that year. In was a bad-tempered series, there was already a fair degree of enmity between both sides by the time they arrived in Newlands, Cape Town for the third Test match.
While fielding on Day 3, Australian opening batter Cameron Bancroft was seen to be rubbing the ball with a small yellow object. Realising he had been spotted, he attempted to hide the object in his trouser pocket.
At the press conference at the end of the day, Bancroft admitted that he had attempted to alter the shape of the ball using a small piece of sandpaper. It later transpired that it was Warner for first put him up to it. Smith, having initially denied any knowledge, admitted that he was fully implicated in what became known as “Sandpapergate”.
There was outrage throughout the world. After Cricket Australia launched an inquiry, Bancroft was banned from cricket for nine months and both Smith and Warner a year each, and were barred from taking up leadership roles for two years.
The pair had already stood down as captains of the Royals and Sunrisers respectively. And after Cricket Australia announced the sanctions, the BCCI followed suit and excluded them from that year’s IPL.
The pair has since resumed both their international and IPL careers, but they will forever have a black mark against their reputations.