Up-and-coming fast bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi has had his Big Bash contract scrapped after a reported incident prompted action from Cricket NSW.
The 22-year-old is one of the many young Afghanistan players recruited for the Australian domestic T20 summer.
He showed promise with the ball debuting for Sydney Thunder, taking 3-20 and racking up 49 dots from his first four games.
The club reportedly received a complaint about the behaviour of Farooqi following an incident last Thursday.
The rising star’s behaviour was thrown before the Integrity Unit where officiators made the call to scrap his contract entirely.
There is no indication what Farooqi had done to prompt a complaint.
“The behaviours displayed by Fazalhaq Farooqi sit outside our values and it was determined that his contract be terminated. Our focus now is providing the necessary support to those affected by this incident,” said Cricket NSW CEO Lee Germon.
Sydney Thunder said “all impacted parties have been offered support” in an adjoining statement.
“Sydney Thunder have terminated the contract of Fazalhaq Farooqi, following a hearing held by Cricket Australia’s Conduct Commissioner,” the Friday afternoon release read.
“Following the Commissioner’s ruling, Sydney Thunder took the extra step of terminating the contract.
“The club received a complaint about the behaviour of Farooqi following an incident last Thursday and referred the matter to Cricket Australia’s Integrity Unit for investigation.”
Before the tournament began, Sydney Thunder stated they expected Fazalhaq to “enhance the growing reputation of cricketers from Afghanistan”. The western Sydney based side had recruited the left-arm seamer after a promising performance for his home side in the recent T20 World Cup.
“We fully expect Fazalhaq will only further enhance the growing reputation of cricketers from Afghanistan being fearless cricketers and extraordinary entertainers,” a statement read.