With the recent decision of the Supreme Court which appointed a retired SC judge to resolve all the issues in Hyderabad Cricket Association, the controversial tenure of former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin as the body’s president has come to an end. SC appointed Justice L Nageswara Rao as a single-man committee to revive the beleaguered cricket body’s past glory. The matter reached the Supreme Court after members of the HCA objected to the appointment of retired SC judge, Justice Deepak Verma, as the body’s ombudsman. Last year, the court appointed an supervisory committee to look into the objections raised by the warring camps in the HCA, but that too failed to work.
The main task before Nageswara Rao is to conduct elections to elect a new president of the HCA as Azharuddin’s term ended last September. Most members of the HCA have alleged that things got worse under Azhar. Former HCA secretary and 1983 manager PR Man Singh speaking to News18 World The cup-winning Indian team said: “There was corruption in the HCA beforehand, but we expected Azharuddin to help clean up the mess. He was a tall figure who came with impeccable credentials. However, in the very first meeting of the council He fell out with other members. Since he was a former captain of the Indian cricket team, you would expect him to be good at managing people. He used to say: ‘I am an international cricketer. You don’t know anything. ….”
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Explaining how Azhar has been accused of influencing selection in the team, the veteran cricket administrator said: “I was in the HCA for 26 years. I have never seen a president attending a selection meeting, but Azhar will be there.”
Over the years, allegations of buying places in the Hyderabad cricket team have surfaced frequently. Questions have been raised on the process of selection of players.
Hyderabad-based cricket enthusiast and analyst Venkat Parthasarathy, who has been following Hyderabad cricket and the HCA for over 4 decades, said: “The poor selection process at the under-16, 19 and first-class levels has created a bad reputation Hyderabad Cricket, which till now was considered a name, is no more. Development of league structure, infrastructure in stadiums and grounds and promotion of merit based cricketers, promoting them to higher cricketing platforms etc. were done during Azhar’s tenure. There has been a lot of corruption in Hyderabad due to which the quality of cricket at all levels has suffered. This is the reason why Hyderabad is at the bottom of the table in Ranji, Vizzy, Vijay Hazare and all tournaments. “
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“Every season there were new players and no one knew how they were being selected. The team for Ranji Trophy was selected on the basis of performance in T20 tournament. Thanks to Covid, three-day leagues were not proper in Hyderabad in the last two years. In such a situation, the question arises that how were these players selected? There has also been a sudden increase in cricket clubs. More the clubs, more the voting power in the HCA. Insiders have told me that the large number of clubs was Azhar’s idea so that he could retain power.”
“In these three years, the league tournaments, which are the foundation of building the Hyderabad team, were never organized properly.
There are now 40 teams in the three-day league, and matches do not go beyond tea time on the second day. This shows that the participating teams are not large enough to maintain the three-day routine. It exposes that there is something wrong with the system,” Man Singh pointed out. Due to the alleged arbitrary selection of players, the Hyderabad team slipped from the elite to the plate group in the Ranji Trophy.
The former HCA secretary also talked about sending additional team players which went against the BCCI rules.
“The BCCI has made it clear that there should be a 15-member squad and 10 support staff. But Azhar was sending a team of 25 players…Extra members would get free leave…At times they were not even allowed to go to the dressing room…It happened during the Ranji Trophy in Delhi, they were not allowed to go to the field were not allowed…so they have to sit in a hotel…HCA has to bear these expenses.” Former HCA committee member Vikram Man Singh said the association could see some light at the end of the tunnel “We have hope that things will get better, even though it may take some time. IPL is starting from June and before that things need to be brought back on track.
While Azharuddin is yet to answer a query on these allegations sent by News18, he has spoken to The Times of India. In the report, he has welcomed the decision of the SC and has lashed out at the former office bearers of the HCA. He said that the allegations were baseless and that he had only tried to clean up the mess created by these members. He said that these members would now feel the heat as their own misdeeds would be probed after the appointment of Nageswara Rao.
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