MS Shanker
If anyone believed that public outrage, investigative exposés, or even central agency scrutiny would clean up the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), last Sunday’s Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) proved otherwise. What unfolded on June 29 was nothing short of a farcical power-sharing exercise, where tainted officials, past manipulators, and compromised figures re-emerged in key committees’ lists, reaffirming that the rot in HCA is not only intact but thriving.
From individuals under probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to those allegedly involved in kickbacks and backdoor selections, the committee proposals read like a who’s who of HCA’s darkest chapters. What should have been an opportunity for course correction turned into a mockery of transparency and reform. The proposed committee names expose the sheer impunity with which vested interests continue to operate, untouched and unaccountable.
Cricket Advisory Committee: Conflict of Interest Be Damned
Take the Cricket Advisory Committee, for instance. It now proposes to include R. Sridhar, former India fielding coach and, more crucially, the man behind John Manoj Cricket Academy. That’s the same John Manoj, a former HCA secretary widely seen as one of the architects of systemic corruption within the association. Sridhar’s deep involvement with the academy raises serious red flags under the conflict-of-interest norms laid out by the Justice Lodha Committee. But who’s watching?
Disability Committee or Liability?
If conflict of interest wasn’t bad enough, the proposal to include Surender Aggarwal in the Differently-Abled Committee crosses another ethical line. Aggarwal’s financial dealings are currently under the ED scanner, with reports confirming that his accounts have been frozen. What message does it send when someone under financial investigation is nominated to oversee welfare initiatives for physically challenged cricketers? The potential for misuse of funds, grants, and public sympathy is staggering.
League Committee: A Recipe for Rot
The League Committee, tasked with organising the city’s cricket calendar, is another poisoned chalice. Here again, John Manoj resurfaces—his grip on HCA operations seemingly undiminished. The academy he’s associated with, which traces its origins to former India player M.V. Narasimha Rao, now reportedly operates under a corporate partnership involving a firm connected to Ravi Shastri. Branding that leverages names like V.V.S. Laxman lures hundreds of desperate parents into hoping for a shortcut into professional cricket, often leading to financial exploitation.
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Joining him are a slew of figures with questionable credentials: Jaggulal, a businessman-cricketer; Rizwan, Vaidyanath, Harinarayan, Vijayanand, and D. Narsing Rao. Most are either tied to local clubs or are alleged to have secured positions through manipulation rather than merit.
Constitution Committee: Legal Minds, Compromised Wills?
The Constitution Committee, where legal acumen is vital, includes Imran Mahmood—despite being academically qualified, he’s been accused of complicity in administrative wrongdoing under successive regimes led by Test cricketers like Arshad Ayub and Mohammad Azharuddin. Also named are Harish, Rakesh, Azmal, and Virendra Yadav—the latter a relative of former India selector and HCA secretary Shivlal Yadav, whose name has long surfaced in ACB investigations, especially regarding the Uppal Stadium construction.
Vigilance? Or Blindfolded?
The Vigilance Committee is supposedly meant to monitor malpractices such as pay-to-play selections, especially in junior and youth teams. Ironically, those very mechanisms are allegedly overseen by some of the same individuals now entrusted with investigating them.
Umpires Committee: Mere Formality
Even the relatively non-controversial Umpires Committee raised eyebrows by proposing Nand Kishore and Shamshuddin—veterans with little influence on the systemic rot but now tasked with facilitating smooth on-field operations. If confirmed, their inclusion, while perhaps harmless, adds nothing to the urgent need for institutional reform.
The Big Question: Who Will Act?
The AGM also conveniently handed over the appointment of the Academy Director and the Ombudsman to the Apex Council—ironically composed of some of the very tainted office-bearers whose actions should be under scrutiny.
With several nominees under active investigation by the ED, CBI, and ACB, the elephant in the room looms large: will the HCA Managing Committee invoke the conflict-of-interest clause, or will it simply rubber-stamp these appointments, risking further legal and reputational damage?
More importantly, where are the courts, the BCCI, and the government bodies entrusted with oversight? How long will investigating agencies sit on files that continue to gather dust despite media exposés and whistleblower reports?
It’s an irony of sorts: Arshad and Shivlal continue their dirty politics, while club members remain mute spectators—many allegedly bought off with the recent release of CD funds.
Time for the Supreme Court to Step In
It is time the Supreme Court intervenes once again. Only a court-monitored clean-up committee—with a fixed three-year mandate, led by upright cricketers and seasoned bureaucrats—can administer the chemotherapy this terminally ill, corruption-ridden cricket body so desperately needs.
Fake elections dominated by rogue clubs and vested interests only serve to reinstall the same cabal of corrupt brokers, many masquerading as former cricketers who once played for the state or country.
Until that happens, every right-thinking cricket lover in Hyderabad must ask themselves:
Is this the future we want for our next generation of cricketers?
