The repercussions from the ball-tampering issue might just burn everyone that was even sparsely involved with it. Darren Lehmann, meanwhile, might be the first one to face the heat as, according to an exclusive from The Telegraph, Lehmann could step down as the coach of the Australian cricket team and become the first casualty of the saga in the process.

After Cameron Bancroft was caught with a sandpaper, he and Steven Smith admitted to tampering the condition of the ball and subsequently faced a vehement backlash, with many calling him and David Warner to retire from the team.

While the jury is still out on Smith and Warner—they may have stood down from captaincy and vice-captaincy with Smith being banned from the next Test—Darren Lehmann is set to step down as the coach of the Baggie Greens. It is believed that his decision comes after Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland announced that he would fly to South Africa on Tuesday.

Apparently, the report adds that the former Australian middle-order batsman wants to evade the questions that would be asked in the investigation and, as a result, has decided to quit a year earlier than he planned to.

While there is a question mark on whether Lehmann was aware of the plan, former Australia captain Michael Clarke believes that Lehmann is accountable for the incident regardless of whether he knew about it or not.

"If that's the case [Lehmann didn’t know about the plan], then the Australian head coach hasn't got control of this Australian team," Clarke said on the Nine Network. "And if he does know about it, then he's as accountable as anybody else."

Earlier, James Sutherland confirmed that the results of the investigation would be announced on Tuesday, March 27, 2018, which is today, and it is likely that both Warner and Smith would be ousted from the honour of leading the side.

There are also whispers of the duo facing life bans or at least for a period of time.