Vinay Rao
TG20: A Windfall That Deserves Better
The logo launch was at a five-star hotel. So was the player auction. Corporate tables, polished backdrops, press cameras — HCA signalled that TG20 was a serious commercial property. Franchise owners believed it. The combined franchise bids came in at close to ₹50 crore — dwarfing what neighbouring Andhra Pradesh collected from its own franchise process by a distance. Add significant EOI fees collected earlier, and a substantial windfall had arrived chappar phad ke — before a single ball was bowled, before a single plan was made. The market delivered it. HCA simply held out its hand.
Then came the first franchise workshop at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. The illusions didn’t survive it.
Mehman Nawazi Kahan?
Where Was the Hospitality?
Franchises arrived at the North Pavilion hall to find no directional signage and no one from HCA to receive them. Governing Council members arrived after the owners had already assembled. The air conditioning was non-functional in peak Hyderabad summer. And in Nizaam ke shaher — a city that once defined courtly grace and hospitality — franchise owners were directed to restrooms that were stinking and leaking, an embarrassment that no amount of hastily arranged air coolers could mask.
Before the fees were paid: five-star. After the fees were paid: ghar ki murgi daal barabar. The franchises, once courted with great enthusiasm, had become ordinary. One can only wonder — had the franchises not yet paid, would the restrooms have been perfumed?
Naam Bhi Nahin. Kaam Bhi Nahin.
No Title Sponsor. No Excuse.
There is no title sponsor for TG20. In franchise cricket, this is not a minor gap — the title deal is the first piece of commercial architecture, typically secured before franchises are even identified. It tells the market the property is real.
Karnataka’s Maharaja Trophy is locked in Shriram Capital for a multi-year deal at inception. Tamil Nadu’s TNPL has carried a naming rights partner across every edition since 2016. The T20 Mumbai League signed Nuvama Private before its current season began. The Legends League Cricket had Adani Sportsline and GMR Group committed as franchise owners before squads were assembled. The principle is the same everywhere: the title sponsor validates the product. Everything else follows.
HCA has collected a substantial windfall in franchise and EOI fees and has no title sponsor plan in sight. The tournament will run entirely on what franchises have already paid. Owners are not just funding their teams — they are funding the entire show.
That is not a commercial league. That is a cost-recovery exercise in a five-star wrapper.
Do They Understand What They Are Running?
The Governing Council overseeing TG20 manages the most significant commercial venture in HCA’s recent history. The question isn’t whether the structure is lean. The question is whether those running it fully grasp the magnitude of what they are holding — and whether they feel the weight of it.
No title sponsor. No commercial roadmap. No event management worthy of the name. No visible urgency. What is on display instead is a Nawabi andaaz — a certain lordly ease, as though the hard part was always just collecting the money and everything after would organise itself.
TG20 deserves better. So do the franchise owners who backed it. So does Hyderabad cricket. This moment calls for professional rigour, commercial ambition, and people with the competence and energy to match the opportunity. That call has not yet been answered.
Wahi Log. Wahi Khel.
Same People. Same Game.
Club secretaries — the people who understand ground-level player development across HCA’s district ecosystem — were not invited to the workshop. The familiar faces of HCA’s governance controversies, however, were visible across franchise tables: agents, brokers, and operatives whose relationship with player selection in Hyderabad cricket has long been questioned.
Whether franchise owners have been formally appraised of who they have aligned with, and what that alignment typically costs players, is unknown. If not, that is a serious failure of disclosure. These are businesspeople who paid premium amounts expecting a merit-based platform. From roughly 5,000 players in the pool, around 160 will be selected. For those who don’t make it, the question of whether selection was earned or arranged is not rhetorical. It is everything.
The Support Staff Stranglehold
HCA requires franchise support staff to be drawn from a notified association list. In a free commercial franchise structure, this is difficult to justify.
If an owner wanted to hire a prominent former India international as head coach — someone whose name alone would generate national coverage, attract sponsors, and signal serious intent — HCA’s list stands in the way. The single decision that could make TG20 nationally relevant is blocked by a rule that serves one purpose: keeping the existing ecosystem of HCA-affiliated personnel insulated from outside competition. That is not good for the league. It is not good for cricket. And it is not what franchise owners signed up for.
Aate Hain Jab Matlab Hota Hai
Present Only When It Suits Them
Where were the Apex Council members — HCA’s elected representatives, the people with formal standing to oversee how this windfall is being deployed in the association’s name? Nowhere to be seen.
For anyone who follows HCA closely, this is no surprise. Apex Council members have perfected the art of selective presence — reliable during IPL season for passes and photo opportunities, visible during elections and selection cycles when personal stakes are high, absent when actual institutional work is required. A commercial tournament of this scale and significance, apparently, does not meet the bar. It should.
Keemat Zyada. Maal Wahi Purana.
A Premium Price Demands a Better Product
HCA collected more from TG20 franchises than any comparable state league in the region. That premium carried an implied promise: something better, something different, something worth the price.
What franchises, players, and the Hyderabad cricket public have seen so far is the same ecosystem, the same personnel networks, the same institutional reflexes — repackaged at considerably greater expense. A substantial windfall arrived chappar phad ke, delivered entirely by franchise generosity. The organisational response was a broken air conditioner, leaking restrooms, and an absent leadership.
The money is there. The opportunity is real. What is needed now is the will — and the competence — to honour both.
Yeh mauka hai, gawana math.
