MS Shanker
Last Sunday’s Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) AGM wasn’t a meeting—it was a reunion of rogues, a mafia-style roll call of those who have turned cricket administration into a looting syndicate. The date may have read 29 June 2025, but the stink in the hall smelled like it had been festering for decades. If the HCA had a new resolution that day, it was this: “Sab milke lootenge.” And loot they did—shamelessly, publicly, and without an ounce of remorse.
Many of those who turned up—immaculately dressed in their designer shirts and guilt-proof skins—were the same ex-cricketers and club officials who had milked the association dry in the past. Stadium construction scams? Selection rackets? Missing funds? Oh, please. Those are badges of honour in today’s HCA. Not only were they in attendance, but they came with renewed hunger, hoping for another bite of the BCCI-funded pie.
The strategy? Simple. Feed the corrupt club secretaries a few crumbs—like the arbitrary “development fund” of ₹5 lakh handed to some clubs—and in return, earn their undying loyalty (and votes). Accountability? Transparency? Those were never on the agenda. Not even as a passing mention.
One former cricketer—naïve enough to expect change—walked in hoping for some soul-searching, or at the very least, an apology. Instead, he witnessed a farcical performance. Not a single word was uttered about ongoing investigations or past wrongdoings. The decision to disburse ₹5 lakh to each club had allegedly been made in a hastily convened meeting just 24 hours before the AGM. Present were the President (a handball-to-cricket transplant), the Vice President (said to be honest but largely silent), a tainted Joint Secretary with a rap sheet, and a Treasurer whose integrity is best left undescribed. The Secretary—perhaps the only one who might have objected—was conveniently absent.
The AGM itself was a grand reunion of former Test players, all of whom enjoy voting rights but many of whom helped create the very rot they now pretend to lament. Several are known to be deeply corrupt and control half a dozen clubs each. That’s not sports administration—it’s feudalism in flannels.
And watching all this unfold from the front row was the so-called ‘Pithamaha of HCA Loot’—a former cricketer who, during his tenure, treated the HCA as a family business. Promoting his brother and sister into the state teams, using the ombudsman’s chair as a throne, and scripting the AGM like it was a Shakespearean tragedy—except here, the villains win.
Not to be outdone, another former HCA President—knee-deep in graft and shady land deals—is now lobbying for the post of Academy Director. Why not? Who needs a clean record when you’ve got influence and dirt on everyone else?
And then there’s the baap of hypocrisy—a former India captain turned politician, now sermonising from the dais like a saint. He, too, has danced in this circus before.
Meanwhile, cricket—the actual game—wasn’t even a footnote. No plans for completion of league calendars. No word on the Lodha Committee’s nine-year cap. No discussion on transparency in team selection. Just vague talk of acquiring government land for a “world-class” stadium—a signal to all: get ready for another round of construction contracts, inflated bills, and a stadium that may cost hundreds of crores, but won’t produce a single quality cricketer.
And through all this? Silence. From the courts. From the Anti-Corruption Bureau. From the Vigilance Department. The ACB, which once prepared a damning report, now appears to have filed it in a dusty cabinet—maybe under “Too Famous to Touch.”
But unless these institutions wake up—and soon—the rot will only deepen. The courts, especially the Supreme Court, need to stop treating HCA’s legal battles as background noise and act decisively. Either expedite pending cases or appoint a seven-member clean-up committee: one senior judge (serving or retired), two upright bureaucrats, and four honest cricketers—yes, even if they’re over the age limit. Because the so-called “young reformers” have turned out to be the worst offenders.
And let’s not forget the real cancer—the rogue clubs with voting rights. Many of these are now controlled by shady ex-players who wouldn’t know a cover drive from a cover-up. Their sole purpose? Elect corrupt cronies in return for their annual slice of bread as well as push some of their players, from whom they might have collected a price, to push them into various state teams, from U-19 to U-22 and even Ranji. If they’re not weeded out, this cesspool will only keep breeding more snakes in whites.
Hyderabad cricket deserves better. But until the looters and power brokers are thrown out, and genuine lovers of the game take over, the HCA will remain what it is today: not a sports body, but a criminal enterprise in cricketing disguise.
