Indian Origin BBL Star Nikhil Chaudhary Set To Return To Hobart Hurricanes After Rape Acquittal

Nikhil Chaudhary, a 28-year-old spinner, was recently acquitted of rape charges by a jury. The charges were related to an alleged incident in which he was accused of raping a 20-year-old woman in a car in Townsville in 2021. Chaudhary is now preparing to make his comeback to the Hobart Hurricanes team in the Big Bash League (BBL). Cricket Tasmania has stated that they were not informed of the charge or court proceedings. In March of this year, Nikhil Chaudhary was acquitted by a jury of the accusation of raping a 20-year-old woman in a car in Townsville in 2021. Chaudhary joined the franchise in late 2023 and had his deal extended to 2027 in February, the month before the trial.

Nikhil Chaudhary set to return to Hobart Hurricanes after rape verdict

Indian origin BBL star Nikhil Chaudhary was recently acquitted of rape charges by a jury. The charges were related to an alleged incident in which he was accused of raping a 20-year-old woman in a car in Townsville in 2021. Chaudhary is now preparing to make his comeback to the Hobart Hurricanes team in the Big Bash League (BBL).

"[There are] some legalities through that process, It's not so much the incident because we know that nothing happened ... legally not guilty and everything. It's just the disclosure of information. We want to know where we sit on that because we were completely in the dark," Salliann Beams said.

Cricket Tasmania has stated that they were not informed of the charge or court proceedings. In March of this year, Nikhil Chaudhary was acquitted by a jury of the accusation of raping a 20-year-old woman in a car in Townsville in 2021. Chaudhary joined the franchise in late 2023 and had his deal extended to 2027 in February, the month before the trial. Nikhil had played nine games in the BBL 2023-24 season, scoring an average of 26 runs with the bat and taking five wickets.

"You have to deal with the organisation's point of view and the impact that it could potentially have on that because you don't really want to associate yourself with ... that type of investigation. But at the same time, you can understand from the players' point of view is that, you know, they've done nothing wrong and it's a scary place, [You're] legally advised not to say anything, so you're always balancing different sides of the story," Beams added.

Cricket Tasmania’s high-performance general manager, Salliann Beams, told the press that the franchise was still going through some internal processes with regard to the 28-year-old. In addition, she pondered over Cricket Tasmania's disappointment with Chaudhary's failure to inform the club about the criminal charges against him and the court proceedings. Beams expressed her pride in how Cricket Tasmania handled the situation with Chaudhary and ensured that every employee was dealt with effectively.