England's Hales takes Warner's IPL spot

England’s Alex Hales will replace David Warner at Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2018 Indian Premier League season, the BCCI confirmed today.

Warner’s $2.4 million contract with Hyderabad was torn up on Wednesday after Cricket Australia banned the left-hander for 12 months for his role as instigator in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Hales was picked up for the base price of $200,000 and will play under the leadership of New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who was named as Warner’s replacement as captain.

Hales followed in the footsteps of compatriot Adil Rashid last month in turning down a first-class contract to focus solely on a limited-overs cricket.

The 29-year-old signed a two-year white-ball contract with Nottinghamshire and will now take his explosive batting talents to the subcontinent.

It’s a dramatic turnaround for Hales after he was suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board for his alleged involvement in a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub in September that saw Ben Stokes arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm.

He returned to international cricket in January against Australia in the Gillette ODI series before travelling across the Tasman Sea to take on the Black Caps.

Hales has big shoes to fill in Hyderabad.

Warner was the Sunrisers’ leading run-scorer in 2017 and guided his side to the title in 2016.

The opener is the tournament's all-time fifth-highest run-scorer and the most prolific overseas batsman in the competition's 10-year history.

Cricket Australia's investigation into the Newlands ball tampering incident found that Warner was responsible for "development of a plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball", and "instruction to a junior player (Test rookie Cameron Bancroft) to carry out a plan".

The former vice-captain was also charged with providing advice to a junior player on how to tamper with the ball "including demonstrating how it could be done".

Warner also misled the Newlands match officials by concealing his knowledge of and involvement in the plan and did not voluntarily report his involvement.

Steve Smith, who was also banned for 12 months, had his IPL deal worth $2.4 million thrown out for his involvement in Cape Town.