Banning David Warner for ball tampering was a bit over the top, reckons Allan Border

The sandpaper-gate scandal rocked Australian cricket in 2018 and two of the culprits in the crime, David Warner and Steve Smith were handed strict punishments. Both of them were involved in ball tampering in a Test against South Africa. Steve Smith was given clean chit after two years but Warner still has a lifetime ban from leadership roles. Several former crickets have backed Warner upliftment on Warner for captaincy duties. 

Allan Border is the new name to argue in favour of the southpaw saying he has paid his dues and it’s time for his return to captaincy. 

“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 said to 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."

Australia will now host Zimbabwe for an ODI series in August starting from 28 August.