IPL 2018: Ashish Nehra says it would not be good if David Warner and Steve Smith missed IPL 11

Steve Smith was sacked as Rajasthan Royals captain for IPL 2018.

Ashish Nehra will be the bowling coach of RCB in IPL 11 | AFPSteve Smith and David Warner stepped down from captaincy roles during the third Test against South Africa, after it was revealed that the leadership group of the Australia team conjured the idea of tampering with the condition of the ball and asked Cameron Bancroft to do it.

Former India player and Royal Challengers bowling coach Ashish Nehra also reacted to this news and termed that if Smith and Warner were banned from the IPL 11, the decision to do so will be “too harsh”.

This controversy has had far reaching effects, as IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals removed Steve Smith from their captaincy for the upcoming IPL 2018 and named Ajinkya Rahane as the new skipper.

David Warner meanwhile captains the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise.

Nehra said to IANS, "If Smith has done something wrong, the ICC will take care of such things which they have already done, by penalising him. But credit goes to Smith for admitting to his team's mistakes. Let bygones be bygones, both Smith and Warner are assets not only for Australia but also to their respective IPL teams.

Steve-Smith-and-David-Warner

He further commented, "It will be very sad if any IPL team fails to get their services. Whether they are retained as captains of their respective IPL teams, it's for the franchises to decide, but it will be a big loss to both Rajasthan (Royals) and Sunrisers (Hyderabad) if they lose players of such calibre."

"I don't think they deserve such harsh punishments, whatever happened lets forget and move forward instead. He (Smith) has admitted his mistake and also stepped down as captain of his national team. You can't expect anything more than that," he added.

"These kinds of incidents have happened even in the past. Australians always like playing the hard way across generations, but crossing the line isn't a fair thing. As long as they are doing all these things including a little bit of sledging within the limitations of the ICC, that's fine. But once you cross the line, the ICC will definitely catch you," he said.

"You won't see these ball tampering things more in white ball cricket, especially now when you have two new balls operating from either end. You can see these things more in red ball cricket where you have longer sessions," Nehra concluded.

(with inputs from IANS)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 26 Mar, 2018

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