Fair Play for Hyderabad Cricket – Part 7

An Open Letter to Hon’ble Justice P. Naveen Rao (Retd.), Single Member Committee, HCA

Respected Sir,

We write this with respect, but also with a sense of urgency.

When the High Court entrusted the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) to your supervision, Hyderabad cricket was given an opportunity to break free from years of allegations, factionalism and administrative failures. You came to the assignment with the stature of a former Acting Chief Justice. Naturally, expectations were high.

For Hyderabad cricket, this may well be now or never.

Our role is only to place before you concerns being discussed at grounds, in clubs and among parents—issues that may not always reach your desk. Each deserves either to be put to rest with facts or acted upon after due inquiry. Inquiry clears the honest and deters the dishonest. Silence does neither.

We appreciate your prompt intervention in removing the social-media post in which an HCA-appointed mentor was seen promoting a private academy. It was a small but significant indication that such conflicts will not be ignored.

But, Sir, the larger question remains: when will the same firmness extend to the wider concerns surrounding Hyderabad cricket?

Despite repeated reports and allegations appearing in the public domain, why do the same power centres, intermediaries and influential interests continue to be spoken of as if nothing has changed?

Are you facing pressure from any quarter? If so, why has it not been disclosed or resisted?

If there is no pressure, why is decisive action still not visible on several issues that have been repeatedly raised?

Your silence is beginning to raise questions—not merely about individual allegations, but about whether the extraordinary powers entrusted to you are being used to their full extent.

We respectfully hope that this is not the case.

1. Performance or perception?

One concern repeatedly raised by parents and members is that performance may not always be the decisive criterion in selection.

Hyderabad cricket has acquired a term for players who, according to critics, continue to find places across age groups irrespective of performance: the “Regulars.”

The question is straightforward:

Are players being selected because of what they produce on the field, or because selectors have already formed an opinion about them?

If performance is the principal criterion, why not publish the objective parameters used for selection—runs, wickets, fitness, fielding standards, match performances and other relevant data?

And if some players repeatedly make state teams but struggle when exposed to South Zone or national-level selection matches, should that not prompt an objective review of the selection process?

Should a player’s place be permanent merely because he has once been selected?

2. Academies, coaches and selectors

Parents allege that certain coaches and selectors have links with influential private academies and that players associated with those academies receive preferential treatment.

Messages circulating among members name several coaches associated with NexGen Academy and allege that a significant number of persons in the state set-up are connected to the academy.

We are not presenting those allegations as established facts. We are asking whether you have verified them.

• How many HCA coaches, selectors and officials have links—professional, financial or familial—with private academies?
• Have those links been formally declared?
• How many players selected for HCA teams are associated with those academies?
• Is there any conflict-of-interest register?
• If HCA rules require disclosure and recusal, where are those declarations?

Another question is even more basic:

Why are HCA-affiliated state matches reportedly being conducted at private academy grounds when facilities such as Gymkhana, the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, ECIL and NFC are available?

Who decides the venue? What is the selection process? Is any money paid? If so, to whom and under what authority?

There are also allegations that a senior selector’s son is in contention for a junior team.

We are not alleging that the father has selected his son.

But why permit such a situation to arise without a mandatory disclosure and recusal mechanism?

Is it not better to eliminate the possibility of a conflict rather than investigate it after controversy erupts?

3. The Under-16 coach

Questions have also been raised about the reappointment of the Under-16 coach, Mr Kiran.

We are told that his previous tenure was accompanied by poor results and complaints.

Was his previous record formally reviewed before his reappointment?

If it was reviewed, what were the findings?

If it was not reviewed, why not?

Another issue requiring clarification is his reported association with Union Bank of India for HCA electoral purposes.

If a coach participates in electing those who administer HCA, does that not warrant scrutiny of whether the two roles create a conflict of interest?

With selections approaching and concerns already being voiced, would it not be prudent to settle these questions before the team is picked rather than afterwards?

4. Women’s cricket: complaints without answers

The concerns surrounding women’s cricket are particularly disturbing.

Parents allege that league performances were disregarded in favour of trials where players were given only a handful of deliveries. They also raise questions about changes to selection panels, alleged intermediaries claiming influence, and allegations of money being sought.

These are serious allegations.

Have they been formally recorded? If so, what action has followed?

Questions have also been raised over the appointment of the senior T20 captain and the circumstances in which the decision was taken.

Was the selection process properly recorded?

Who participated in the decision?

Were all eligibility and clearance requirements satisfied, including in the case of players returning from another state?

Most importantly, where is the grievance-redressal mechanism for women cricketers and their parents?

In 2023, a former Supreme Court judge reportedly recorded serious complaints concerning alleged bribes and large payments by parents and called for a thorough investigation.

What happened to that investigation?

What was its outcome?

If no inquiry was completed, why not?

And if parents are now afraid to complain because they believe their daughters may suffer professionally, what confidence can the present system claim to inspire?

The POSH committee is meant to provide protection. Is it actually functional? Where can a player or parent file a complaint, and what is the prescribed procedure?

5. Leagues, clubs and investigations

Members have alleged that league teams are effectively leased to academies, with players allegedly being charged for opportunities.

There are further allegations concerning scoresheets, umpiring, age manipulation and attempts to influence club voting.

Again, these are allegations requiring verification—not conclusions.

But the questions cannot simply disappear.

What happened to the proposed inquiry into clubs similarly placed to the 57 clubs disqualified in 2023?

What is the present status of the Special Investigation Team ordered in April?

What action has followed?

If contempt proceedings are pending against Joint Secretary Sri T. Basava Raju and Treasurer Dr Konda Anil Kumar, what safeguards are in place to ensure that pending proceedings do not compromise the administration of HCA?

And when an office-bearer facing such proceedings subsequently publicly extends HCA’s support to a private league, does that not warrant immediate scrutiny?

Without consequences for proven wrongdoing, there can be no deterrence.

Please do not wait for fear to disappear before seeking evidence

Sir, you know better than most how evidence is assessed.

But you also know that an absence of a written complaint does not necessarily mean an absence of wrongdoing.

In Hyderabad cricket, parents fear that complaining may affect their children’s careers. Players fear being dropped. Club officials fear losing their voting rights or facing disputes. That fear itself needs to be addressed.

We are not asking you to convict anyone on allegations.

We are asking you to investigate credible patterns where sufficient questions have been raised.

Should the administration wait for a frightened parent to sign a complaint before even examining a recurring pattern?

Would it not be possible to establish a confidential mechanism through which information can reach your committee without exposing complainants to retaliation?

Cleaning the system cannot depend entirely on the courage of those who may have the most to lose.

Our respectful but direct requests

We respectfully urge you to:

1. Examine each of the above issues suo motu and either place the facts in the public domain or initiate appropriate action wherever wrongdoing is established.
2. Create a confidential complaint mechanism for players, parents, coaches and club officials, with protection against victimisation.
3. Make selection genuinely performance-led by publishing objective selection criteria, relevant performance data, attendance records and minutes of selection meetings.
4. Enforce conflict-of-interest rules by requiring every selector and coach to disclose academy, familial, financial and other relevant associations, with mandatory recusal wherever necessary.
5. Review the use of private academy grounds for HCA matches and disclose the basis on which venues are selected.
6. Review the Under-16 coach’s appointment and his previous record before the forthcoming selections.
7. Address the complaints in women’s cricket through an independent inquiry where financial allegations have been made and ensure that the POSH committee has a functioning and accessible complaint mechanism.
8. Seek and disclose the status of the pending club inquiry and SIT investigation, subject to legal constraints.
9. Ensure that persons facing serious pending proceedings do not exercise undue influence over selection, administration or disciplinary decisions, wherever legally permissible.

Sir, Hyderabad cricket does not need another cycle of promises, committees and silence.

It needs transparent selection, accountable administration and consequences for proven wrongdoing.

The authority entrusted to you is considerable. So is the responsibility.

We therefore ask one simple question:

Will the powers entrusted to you now be used to confront the system—or will the system once again outlast the effort to reform it?

We remain hopeful that the answer will be decisive action.

Yours faithfully,

A well-wisher and a victim of the system