Special Correspondent
At a time when the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) is expending enormous energy, resources and publicity machinery to market TG20 as a revolutionary milestone for Telangana cricket, an uncomfortable and disturbing question refuses to go away.
Why has women’s cricket once again been pushed into oblivion?
Why is there a deafening silence when it comes to the future of hundreds of aspiring women cricketers?
Why does the HCA leadership suddenly lose its urgency, enthusiasm, and efficiency whenever women’s cricket is discussed?
The contrast is impossible to ignore.
For TG20, there are press conferences, social media campaigns, sponsorship announcements, celebrity endorsements and endless declarations about transforming cricket in Telangana.
But when it comes to women’s cricket, there is nothing but silence.
The irony is staggering.
This is the very region that has produced two captains for the Indian women’s team and several outstanding cricketers who have brought immense pride to Hyderabad and Telangana. Yet, the present custodians of the HCA appear content to reduce women’s cricket to an afterthought.
With crucial age-group tournaments approaching in September, where are the preparations? Where are the talent identification programmes? Where are the selection committees? More importantly, where is the roadmap for the future?
Parents and aspiring women cricketers have every reason to feel betrayed.
This publication has, on multiple occasions, highlighted the plight of women cricketers and exposed how a group of power brokers allegedly controlled the system by handpicking teams, manipulating selections and influencing the appointment of coaches and managers.
Several parents approached this publication alleging shabby treatment of players, favouritism and a complete disregard for merit. Their complaints were duly forwarded to the authorities.
What happened thereafter?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The silence of the Apex Council has been both shocking and revealing. One is compelled to ask whether the association has deliberately chosen to look the other way. Or worse, whether vested interests continue to dictate the narrative.
There are legitimate fears that certain individuals are once again attempting to capture the system and ensure that their favourites continue to dominate team selections.
Was that the reason behind retaining the same questionable ecosystem? Is merit once again being sacrificed at the altar of patronage? Are deserving girls being denied opportunities simply because they lack access to influential networks or refuse to submit to the whims of these power brokers?
These are not frivolous questions. They deserve immediate answers.
Even more disturbing are reports that some of those who had earlier been accused by several individuals of ill-treating women cricketers are apparently back in action. One among them, incidentally, is said to be nothing more than a rank outsider. Yet, astonishingly, he appears to be enjoying influence once again.
What is even more perplexing is that the present HCA Secretary and even the High Court-appointed administrator seem willing to entertain such individuals, for reasons best known to them.
Why?
Shouldn’t such elements be kept far away from the system to ensure that aspiring women cricketers can focus on their game rather than be subjected to unnecessary distractions, intimidation and dressing-room controversies?
These questions become unavoidable because every attempt at reform now risks becoming nothing more than an exercise in recycling old faces under new labels.
Hyderabad cricket has suffered enough because of entrenched power centres.
For years, private interests masqueraded as cricket administration. Personal loyalties took precedence over merit. Influence overshadowed talent. Genuine cricketers became collateral damage.
Now, unfortunately, there are growing fears that the same disease is mutating rather than disappearing.
Shouldn’t the HCA administration seriously consider rebuilding women’s cricket by appointing an honest, upright and credible personality as an overall mentor to revive the state teams and restore Hyderabad’s lost glory that once produced world-class cricketers such as Purnima Rao and many others?
The larger concern is whether Hyderabad cricket is once again becoming a playground for a select few.
Silence can no longer be an option.
Women’s cricket cannot continue to be treated as a ceremonial appendage that receives attention only when it becomes politically convenient.
The women of Telangana are not asking for favours.
They are demanding fairness.
They are demanding an opportunity.
They are demanding dignity.
Most importantly, they are demanding equality.
The HCA must understand that women’s cricket is not a side project to be attended to after the men have finished playing. It is an integral part of the future of Hyderabad cricket itself.
Otherwise, all the slogans about transformation, all the glitter surrounding TG20, and all the expensive public relations exercises will amount to nothing more than a cosmetic makeover designed to hide a deeply flawed and discriminatory system.
History will then record an uncomfortable truth: while the rest of the world invested in women’s cricket, the Hyderabad Cricket Association chose to neglect it.
And that would be an indictment no amount of publicity, branding, or event management can ever erase.
