Cricket Australia may lift bans imposed on Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. While Smith and Warner are into the eighth month of their one-year bans, opening batsman Bancroft, who received a nine-month suspension, will be eligible to play after December 2018.
The trio, which was handed suspensions for the involvement in ball-tampering in Cape Town in March this year, has also been barred from taking part in the domestic Sheffield Shield and the Big Bash League Twenty20 competition.
However, the board has now come under immense pressure from the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) to revoke the bans after the Longstaff review which has also blamed the board for the fiasco which has tarnished Cricket Australia.
Cricket Australia has already booted out high-performance chief Pat Howard
"The ACA submission around the players' sanctions was received by the board a few days ago," CA CEO Kevin Roberts told reporters.
"It was addressed to the board rather than to me or all management. So not for me to comment on a board matter other than to say that the board will be respecting that submission and giving it due consideration."
Earlier on Wednesday, Cricket Australia booted out high-performance chief Pat Howard as well as broadcasting boss Ben Amarfio in a bid to purge their image after the Longstaff review.
Tim Paine, who was named the captain of the Test side after the incident, leads a rather depleted squad which lost the series against Pakistan in UAE. As India's tour looms large, if the bans on Smith and Warner are indeed lifted, it could have significant repercussions on the series.
Roberts, who was also part of the tumultuous pay dispute with the players last year, wants to repair the relationship with the players and that it remains a top priority.
"I think what's really important is that we at Cricket Australia need to embrace the players and we need to make sure that the players feel a really valued part of Cricket Australia," he said.
"There's no doubt that we need to face up to the review and the fact that it acknowledged that the organisation hasn't been united enough across the playing and long-playing sides," he further added.
