(Our Correspondent)
Hyderabad: Discontent appears to be brewing within the ranks of affiliated clubs of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), with several members privately expressing anger over what they describe as an “increasingly opaque and exclusionary” functioning of the Apex Council.
The latest trigger for the resentment was the media interaction held by former India cricketer Ambati Rayudu, who was recently appointed as Director of Cricket in the HCA setup. Club representatives alleged that affiliated members were neither informed about the press conference in advance nor briefed about its contents afterwards.
“This is a dangerous precedent, which many of us were opposed to from the beginning. We would at least like to be informed about what is happening in our own association,” a club secretary told this correspondent on condition of anonymity.
Questioning the much-publicised promise of “transparency” under the new administration, the club official said the functioning of the association was steadily becoming more centralised, with major decisions and announcements allegedly being confined to a select few individuals.
“This is not the way we expected the association to function. What happened to the promise of transparency? All stakeholders should be taken into confidence, especially when newly-appointed officials are addressing the media on important matters,” he said, adding that such instances had become frequent ever since the appointment of HCA Secretary Jeevan Reddy.
According to club insiders, the growing frustration among affiliated members has now spilled over into internal WhatsApp groups, where several secretaries are openly questioning the manner in which information is being controlled within the association.
Members alleged that important developments are increasingly being communicated through media leaks, circulars and forwarded WhatsApp messages, while affiliated clubs — which form the backbone of Hyderabad cricket — are left completely in the dark.
“It has reached a stage where members feel like outsiders at their own family wedding,” remarked another club representative.
The criticism, members insist, is not directed against any particular individual appointment, but against what they call the “systematic sidelining” of affiliated clubs that have sustained Hyderabad cricket for decades through league cricket, grassroots development and player nurturing.
Several members also pointed out that while courts had encouraged reforms and facilitated certain administrative appointments in HCA, there was never any direction to dilute the democratic structure of the association or ignore affiliated members.
“Reform cannot become a shield for secrecy, selective access to information and closed-door functioning,” a senior club office-bearer observed.
Questions are also reportedly being raised over the much-publicised TG20 project. While the league has generated significant publicity, affiliated members claim there is little clarity on its ownership pattern, financial structure, operational framework or decision-making process.
“Except perhaps a couple of Apex Council insiders, nobody really knows how TG20 is being structured or operated. For ordinary members, it has become nothing short of a ‘Chidambara Rahasya,” a club secretary remarked sarcastically.
The growing unrest has once again brought the spotlight back on governance issues within HCA, an association that has repeatedly faced allegations of opacity, concentration of power and lack of institutional accountability over the years.
Club members warned that continuing the same culture under the banner of “reforms” would only deepen mistrust within the association and further damage the credibility of Hyderabad cricket administration.
“The affiliated clubs deserve transparency, communication, and basic respect — not step-motherly treatment in their own association,” a club official said.
