‘Thank You Rajasthan Royals’: Steve Smith Departs to Join Aus Team
Steve Smith has left the Rajasthan Royals camp to join the Australian cricket team for their World Cup preparations.
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Not the farewell he would've liked but Steve Smith ended his IPL 2019 campaign on Tuesday night in Bengaluru by sharing points with bottom placed Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Incessant rains first delayed the start of play and later returned to ensure Rajasthan had to abort their chase of RCB’s 62/7 in the fourth over. This, after the match was reduced to 5 overs a side.
The fixture was RR skipper Steve Smith’s final match of the season as the former Australian skipper now returns to his home country to join the national team’s preparatory camp for the 2019 ICC World Cup.
In a social media post after the game, Steve Smith wrote - ‘Thank you Rajasthan Royals for the last 7 weeks. I’ve enjoyed every minute of this IPL and I’m glad to be involved with such a great franchise with so many wonderful people. Good luck in Delhi boys! #hallabol’
Smith was returning to the Indian Premier League after a gap of one year following the ball-tampering controversy in South Africa last March. After the suspensions by Cricket Australia, the BCCI too asked both Smith and Warner to not participate in the league last year.
Both players however completed their bans in March and while Australia was playing a five-match ODI series against Pakistan in Dubai at the time, Cricket Australia allowed both to focus on the IPL instead.
Having been handed the Rajasthan Royals captaincy last year, Ajinkya Rahane continued in the position this season as well, but midway through the season, the team management gave the responsibility to Smith. The 29-year-old leaves with the franchise placed 5th in the standings with 11 points. Smith himself could not get among the runs too often, scoring 319 runs in 10 innings that included 3 half-centuries.