Australia’s Steve Smith will most likely lose captaincy of the Rajasthan Royals following the ball-tampering controversy in the ongoing third Test between South Africa and Australia.

Smith stood down as Australia captain for the remainder of the Test on Sunday, along with vice-captain David Warner, after the 28-year-old admitted the team’s leadership group hatched a plan to tamper with the ball which was carried out on the field by opener Cameron Bancroft.

The ICC on Sunday decided to hand Smith a one-Test suspension and fine him 100 per cent of his match fee for the ball-tampering incident.

There have been calls for Smith to be removed from the Australia captaincy on a long-term basis.

The Royals are returning to the IPL after a two-year suspension in relation to match-fixing allegations, and had decided to build their team around Smith upon their re-entry. The franchise’s chairman Ranjit Barthakur said they will wait for instructions from the BCCI before taking a call: “We have been made aware of the controversy of ball tampering in the ongoing Australia-South Africa series and await further instructions from BCCI before we make any announcement,” Barthakur said.

“We at Rajasthan Royals will not tolerate any actions that are unfair by definition and bring disrepute to the game of cricket. Our zero tolerance policy applies to everyone in our team. Please bear with us.”