With the recent Supreme Court judgement that appointed a retired judge to resolve all issues at Hyderabad Cricket Association, the controversial stint of former Indian captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, as the president of the body has come to an end. The SC appointed Justice L Nageswara Rao as a single member committee to revive the past glory of the beleaguered cricket body.
The matter reached the Supreme Court last year after members of the HCA objected to the appointment of Justice Deepak Varma, a retired SC judge, as the ombudsman. The court appointed a supervisory committee to look into the objections raised by warring camps in the HCA, but that too failed to work out.
The main task before the Nageswara Rao is to conduct elections to choose the new president of HCA as the term of Azharuddin had ended last September. A majority of HCA members have alleged that things took a turn for the worse under Azhar.
Talking to News18, PR Man Singh, former HCA secretary and manager of the 1983 World Cup winning Indian team, said: “Corruption was there in HCA from before, but we had expected that Azharuddin would help clean the mess. He was a tall figure who came with great credentials. However, he fell out with other members in the first council meeting itself. He used to say: ‘I am an international cricketer. You know nothing.’ Since he was the former captain of the Indian cricket team, you would expect that he would be good at managing people.”
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Explaining how Azhar has been accused of influencing selections into the team, the veteran cricket administrator, said: “I was in HCA for 26 years. I had never seen a president taking part in a selection meeting, but Azhar would be there.”
Over the last couple of years, allegations that one could buy a place in the Hyderabad cricket team has surfaced often. Questions have been raised about the process of selection of players.
Venkat Parthasarathy, a Hyderabad based cricket enthusiast and analyst, who has been following Hyderabad Cricket and HCA closely for over four decades, said: “The bad selection process at Under 16, Under 19 and the First class levels has created a bad reputation for Hyderabad cricket. The development of the league structure, infrastructure at the stadiums and grounds, and promotion of merit-based cricketers etc. have been sorely missing during Azhar’s tenure. There has been rampant corruption owing to which quality of cricket has taken a beating in Hyderabad across all levels. This is the reason Hyderabad is languishing at the bottom of the table in Ranji, Vizzy, Vijay Hazare and all tournaments.”
“There were new players every season and no one knew how they were being selected. The team for Ranji trophy was selected on the performance for the T-20 tournament. Thanks to Covid, Hyderabad did not have proper three-day leagues in the last two years. So the question arises how were these players being selected? There has been a sudden rise in cricket clubs too. The more the clubs, the more the voting power in HCA. Insiders have told me that the large number of clubs was Azhar’s idea so that he can continue to hold power,” he added.
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“In these three years, the league tournaments, which are the foundation to build Hyderabad team, were never conducted properly. Now there are 40 teams in a three-day league, and the matches don’t last beyond tea time on second day. This shows that the teams that are participating are not good enough to sustain the three-day routine. It exposes that there is something wrong with the system,” pointed out Man Singh.
Because of the alleged arbitrary selection of players, the Hyderabad team slipped from the elite to the plate group in Ranji Trophy.
The former secretary of HCA also spoke about sending extra team players that went against BCCI rules.
“The BCCI has made it clear that there must a 15-member team and 10 support staff. But Azhar was sending teams of 25 players. The extra members would have a free holiday. Sometimes, they were not even allowed in the dressing room. This happened during the Ranji trophy in Delhi. They were not allowed on ground and so they were sitting in a hotel. HCA has to bear these expenses.” Vikram Man Singh, former committee member of HCA, said that the association can now see some light at the end of the tunnel.
“After the appointment of Nageswara Rao, we are hopeful that things will fall into place, even though it might take some time. IPL begins from June, and things need to be brought on track before that.”
While Azharuddin is yet to reply to a query on these allegations sent by News18, he has spoken to Times of India. In the report, he has welcomed SC’s decision and lashed out against former HCA office bearers.
He said that the allegations were baseless and that he had only tried to clear up the mess created by these members. He said that these members will feel the heat now as their own misdeeds will come under scrutiny after the appointment of Nageswara Rao.
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