The banned Australian captain Steve Smith will be allowed to play in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in January. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Thursday lifted the ban on Smith, saying that as many as four franchises have "withdrawn their objections for the greater interest of the tournament".
The ruling means Smith, currently serving a one-year ban from international cricket over the infamous ball-tampering scandal in South Africa earlier in the year, is free to play for Comilla Victorians in the next edition of the BPL starting on January 5.
Australia's ex-vice captain David Warner will also play in the BPL – which concludes on February 8, 2019 – having signed for the Sylhet Sixers as one of their two pre-draft signings.
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Smith has signed for the Victorians and is expected to join up with teammates in mid-January for the second phase of the BPL as a replacement for Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.
The BCB had initially blocked his participation after other franchises raised objections about Smith, who was not in the initial players' draft list for the tournament.
"We could not give him permission earlier as other franchises had protested his signing," BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus said on Thursday.
"Today four franchises emailed us separately saying that they have withdrawn their objections for the greater interest of the tournament," he said.
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Yunus added that in return other franchises wanted at least one replacement player outside of the players' draft and the BCB had agreed to their demand.
Smith and Warner were handed year-long international bans for their roles in a ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket in March.
They were also banned from playing in Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield and Big Bash League.
The BPL will be Smith's third T20 league outing – after Canada's Global T20 and the Caribbean Premier League – since the ban was imposed.
He also recently signed for the Pakistan Super League, which will be played in February and March.
The BPL, which started in 2011, was hit by allegations of match-fixing in its early years.
After a suspension, the tournament resumed in 2015 and has since been staged without serious controversy.
(With AFP inputs)
