Former Australian cricket captain Steve Smith has had his ban from the sport lifted by Bangladeshi cricket officials so he can participate in the country's upcoming T20 competition.
Smith, who is currently serving a one-year ban from international cricket over a ball-tampering scandal, will be free to play in the next edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, which gets underway in early January. The 29-year-old was expected to join the Comilla Victorians in mid-January as a replacement for Pakistan's Shoab Malik.
AFP reported the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had initially blocked his participation after opposition franchises raised objections about Smith as he 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"Today four franchises emailed us separately saying that they have withdrawn their objections for the greater interest of the tournament," he said.
