The incident comes at a time when the Australian team finds itself in the thick of the ball-tampering row that has drawn criticism for the Aussies globally.

IPL 2018: Australian opener and Surisers Hyderabad player David Warner today stepped down from the post of the captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. The incident comes at a time when the Australian team finds itself in the thick of the ball-tampering row that has drawn criticism for the Aussies globally. The new captain of the Surisers Hyderabad team will be announced shortly. The official Twitter handle of the team tweeted, ” “In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad. The new captain of the Team will be announced shortly.” – K.Shanmugam, CEO, SunRisers Hyderabad.”

“In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of SunRisers Hyderabad. The new captain of the Team will be announced shortly.” – K.Shanmugam, CEO, SunRisers Hyderabad

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 28, 2018

IPL is scheduled to begin form April 7 and Surisers Hyderabad faces Rajasthan Royals in the first match. Warner had led the Surisers team to its maiden title in IPL 2016.

Warner along with Australian skipper Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft have found themselves in the midst of a scandal that broke out during the third Test against South Africa in Johannesburg. Bancroft was caught on the camera using a sandpaper to tamper the ball. Following the incident, the trio was sent back to Australia after a preliminary round of enquiry. Coach Darren Lehmann has been cleared of any charges of involvement.

Reportedly, Warner irked the entire Australian dressing room after the scandal. Earlier, Steve Smith had stepped down from the captainship of Rajasthan Royals due to the incident for which he was banned for one Test by the ICC.