Alex Hales slots in for David Warner at Sunrisers Hyderabad

Alex Hales has been called up by Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Indian Premier League team, as the replacement for David Warner, the franchise announced on Saturday 31 March.

Steve Smith and Warner were suspended for 12 months and Cameron Bancroft for nine months from all domestic and international cricket because of their roles in the ball-tampering incident in the Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia.

Soon after, Smith and Warner stepped down from their positions as captains of IPL teams Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.

Ajinkya Rahane has since been unveiled as the new captain of the Rajasthan side, who won the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008, but the team haven’t yet named a replacement player.

In the case of Sunrisers Hyderabad, who won the IPL under Warner’s leadership in 2016, Kane Williamson was named as the captain shortly after Warner’s announcement to step aside.

Hales, who announced his decision to move away from red-ball cricket in favour of a fully fledged career in white-ball cricket earlier this year, is a widely travelled Twenty20 player, having spent time in leagues in Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India – with Mumbai Indians – and playing for Nottinghamshire in England.

In a career spanning 174 T20 games, he has scored 4704 runs at an average of 28.85 and a strike rate of 143.54 with two centuries and 30 half-centuries.

Sunrisers Hyderabad play their first match of the IPL 2018 on 9 April against Rajasthan Royals.