Bangladeshi cricket officials on Thursday lifted a ban on former Australian captain Steve Smith playing in the forthcoming Twenty20 Bangladesh Premier League, an official said. The ruling means Smith, currently serving a one-year ban from international cricket over a ball-tampering scandal, is free to play for Comilla Victorians in the next edition of the BPL starting on January 5.

He has signed for the side and is expected to join up with teammates in mid-January for the second phase of the BPL as a replacement for Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had initially blocked his participation after other franchises raised objections about Smith, who 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.