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Although not disclosing the criminal proceedings to the Hobart Hurricanes, a player found not guilty of rape will probably play for the team again in the Big Basin League.
A jury in March found Nikhil Chaudhary not guilty of raping a 20-year-old woman in a Townsville car in 2021. Cricket Tasmania claims it was not made aware of the accusation or the legal proceedings.
In February, the month before the trial, Chaudhary, who joined the team in late 2023, had his contract extended to 2027.
Salliann Beams, general manager of high performance at Cricket Tasmania, said reporters that the company was still going through “internal processes” in regards to Chaudhary. She predicted that he would play in the next season.
“[There are] some legalities through that process,” Beams said on Tuesday.
“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.”
Beams said it was disappointing Chaudhary didn’t inform Cricket Tasmania about the charges or court proceedings.
“You have to deal with the organisation’s point of view and the impact that it could potentially have on that,” she said.
“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.”