Nikhil Chaudhary, the India-born cricketer, has been found not guilty of rape charges and is poised to make a comeback to the Big Bash League (BBL) with the Hobart Hurricanes (HH).

Chaudhary's contact with the squad began when he signed on with them in late 2023. Just one month before the trial, in February, he received a contract extension through 2027 for his outstanding performance with bat and bowl.

Chaudhary showed his ability as a bowler and batsman throughout his short BBL 2023 season. He averaged a very respectable 26 runs at the bat in nine games, and his bowling ability helped him take five vital wickets.

Salliann Beams, the high-performance general manager of Cricket Tasmania, informed the media that Chaudhary's legal proceedings are still ongoing and that he is expected to participate in the upcoming season.

"[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 was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo

"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.