Rules Never Made, Inquiries Never Done
When this series began, we exposed how Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) was converted into a private fiefdom — funds diverted, selections rigged, and cricketing facilities left to rot. But if one thought that was the worst of it, the next layer of rot lies in something even more fundamental: the complete absence of rules and the deliberate refusal to enforce discipline.
The Memorandum of Association of HCA, 2018, clearly required the framing of regulations for the conduct of players, match officials, team officials, administrators, and committee members. This was not a suggestion — it was a mandate. Yet, five years later, not a single such rule exists.
Without rules of conduct, HCA effectively ran on whims, vendetta, and cash dealings. Players could be sidelined without reason, selectors could be dismissed for not toeing the line, and officials could behave like monarchs without fear of disciplinary action. The CEO, who was supposed to draft these regulations in consultation with the Ethics Officer and Ombudsman, never moved an inch. The Apex Council, which inherited the powers of the General Body, conveniently looked the other way.
This deliberate neglect was no accident. Rules would have imposed accountability, and accountability is the last thing Hyderabad’s cricket czars ever wanted.
Justice L. Nageswara Rao, during his court-appointed inquiry, identified conflicts of interest in 57 HCA member clubs. His order dated July 31, 2023, and the interim report to the Court laid out how certain individuals controlled multiple clubs, securing disproportionate voting rights and influence.
Also read: https://orangenews9.com/who-ruined-hyderabad-cricket-episode-xxvii/
Also read: https://orangenews9.com/who-ruined-hyderabad-cricket-episode-xxvi/
But even after the order, fresh complaints poured in. Many more individuals with similar conflicts of interest were left untouched simply because the proceedings had already moved to election mode. Rao pointedly reminded that it is the duty of the Apex Council to investigate such members. Will they? Or will they quietly bury the files like every Apex Council before them?
The message was clear: unless conflicts of interest are rooted out, the same handful of power brokers will continue to manipulate Hyderabad cricket for personal gain.
For all the grand talk of promoting cricket, the one community consistently excluded from decision-making has been the players themselves. Rao underlined the need for every HCA member association to establish a Players’ Body with representation in the General Body and Executive Committee.
In theory, this is revolutionary. It means cricketers themselves would finally have a say in selections, tournaments, and governance. In practice, however, HCA has ensured players remain voiceless. Decisions about their careers are taken in closed rooms by administrators who neither played at the highest level nor have any moral authority to decide the future of Hyderabad cricket.
Also read: https://orangenews9.com/who-ruined-hyderabad-cricket-part-xxv/
Also read: https://orangenews9.com/who-ruined-hyderabad-cricket-part-xxiv/
If neglecting players wasn’t enough, the HCA’s legal strategy — or rather, its lack of one — has been suicidal. Time and again, the association has been set ex parte in court cases. In plain terms, this means HCA didn’t even bother to show up, letting judgments go against it by default.
This isn’t just incompetence. It is a calculated abdication, because many of these cases involved corruption allegations, fraudulent selections, or misuse of funds. By deliberately not contesting them, office-bearers avoided exposure. Once again, it is the association — and by extension, the game of cricket in Hyderabad — that suffered.
Another cancer-eating HCA is the deliberate refusal to declare conflicts of interest. Office bearers of member associations are legally bound to submit affidavits confirming they do not control more than one club. If false declarations are made, the Ethics Officer or Ombudsman is supposed to act.
But when the enforcers themselves are complicit, what happens? Exactly what we’ve seen: nothing. Clubs with overlapping ownership and office bearers continue to vote, contest, and swing elections. The result is a permanent capture of the HCA’s democratic machinery by a few entrenched families and business lobbies.
The Lodha reforms and the National Sports Code of 2011 imposed age and tenure restrictions precisely to prevent power from getting concentrated in a few hands. Across India, cricket bodies were forced to comply. Hyderabad? Not so.
Also read: https://orangenews9.com/who-ruined-hyderabad-cricket-part-xxii/
Here, member clubs and District Cricket Associations (DCAs) remain untouched by these guidelines. That means presidents, secretaries, and “godfathers” of clubs continue to cling on for decades, building fiefdoms, lobbying for power, and ensuring new blood is blocked. Players are denied fresh opportunities not because of a lack of talent but because administrators refuse to vacate their seats.
If all of this looks like lawlessness, the financial side completes the picture. The HCA has not had a statutory audit since 2017–18. For five long years, not a single set of accounts was properly audited.
Why? Because audits bring out uncomfortable truths — diversions, overbilling, and payments without work done. It took the intervention of Justice Rao and his appointed professionals to restart statutory audits and bring them up to date. That itself tells the story of how deep the rot ran.
This part of the story reveals how the very foundations of Hyderabad cricket were deliberately left unregulated. No rules of conduct, no discipline, no audits, no conflict-of-interest declarations, and no player representation. The Apex Council, supposed to be a guardian body, turned into an enabler of this chaos.
But this was only the scaffolding of corruption. The real loot happened once money started flowing in — from BCCI subsidies, IPL hosting, and sponsorship deals. Funds meant for developing cricket were shamelessly siphoned off into fake bills, personal medical reimbursements, and committee payouts.
That darker chapter, where the crores flowed like water and accountability vanished into thin air, is what we turn to next.
