Vijay Mohan Raj’s Blunt Truths: Hyderabad Cricket Deserves Better
M S Shanker
In this twelfth instalment of the “How to revive Hyderabad Cricket” series, we shine the spotlight on a man whose name is etched across multiple cricketing legacies — Vijay Mohan Raj. A player of exceptional calibre, a certified coach, and until recently the Director of the Hyderabad Cricket Association’s (HCA) Academy, Mohan Raj is among the rare few who have held aloft the Ranji Trophy for both Bombay(1975-76) (1976–77) and Hyderabad (1986–87). That distinction alone earns him the right to speak candidly — and he does — about the institutional rot that has reduced Hyderabad cricket to a pale shadow of its glorious past.
Let us begin with his cricketing journey — one forged in the cauldron of Mumbai’s intensely competitive leagues. Born in 1955, Vijay Mohan Raj was a gritty, prolific left-hander. He played 54 first-class matches, scoring over 3,700 runs at an average nearing 47, including a marathon 211 not out in the Ranji Trophy final against Delhi — a performance instrumental in Hyderabad’s last title triumph in 1986–87. He was the fourth-highest run-getter that season, averaging a majestic 75.10.
And yet, behind the scorecards lies a career repeatedly mauled by politics, prejudices, and parochialism — the undercurrents that have long polluted Indian domestic cricket. Mohan Raj’s early years in Mumbai were clouded by exclusion. Despite consistent performances, he often found himself edged out by regional biases, particularly because he didn’t hail from the elite Shivaji Park and Dadar cricketing cartel. “I played alongside greats like Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, and Sandeep Patil. But selection? That was always uncertain,” he recalls. Ironically, it was Sunil Gavaskar who suggested he open the batting — a role he embraced with success — but when it came to selections, merit was rarely the sole criterion.
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Disillusioned, he took a leap of faith. At the suggestion of then Hyderabad stalwart Shivlal Yadav, he moved south. The move didn’t go down well with his Mumbai mentors, Gavaskar included. Yet it proved pivotal. In Hyderabad, despite early hostility from a few who saw him as an “outsider,” he slowly built a new identity — as a player, a coach, a selector, and eventually as a mentor to many. His deep ties with the city are not sentimental alone; they are structural. “I chose Hyderabad as home because it embraced me when Mumbai did not. But today, the system I believed in is failing.”
Vijay Mohan Raj’s insights are searing — and credible. Unlike armchair critics, he has seen the inner workings of the HCA from the inside. As a selector and later the Director of the Academy until just last month, he witnessed firsthand how personal ambition, unchecked egos, and administrative greed have strangled the game in Hyderabad.
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His diagnosis is unambiguous: the problem is not just that cricketers became administrators — it’s that wrong cricketers with wrong motivations took charge. “What should have been an opportunity to reform was used to settle scores, grab power, and make money. How else do you explain the kind of wealth some of these people have amassed? They’ve looted the legacy of Hyderabad cricket.”
One of the most damaging trends, he argues, is the explosion of league teams — a phenomenon engineered not to expand the sport but to build a vote bank. “Non-functional, uninterested institutions were given teams. Many of them neither produce players nor contribute meaningfully. These teams are just shells — proxies for power and profit,” he fumes.
His solution? A complete overhaul of the league structure. Disband defunct clubs. Instead, create a parallel three-day weekend league exclusively for corporates — real companies that actively promote sports among employees. “Corporates have the incentive, the resources, and the professionalism. Let them build genuine teams. Let them scout school and college talent. That will rebuild the pyramid from the base.”
This idea — surprisingly absent in my conversations with other stakeholders — is both novel and actionable. Even more compelling is his revelation: there are nearly 70 cricket grounds available around Hyderabad’s Moinabad and ORR. Why not make the best use of them? They’d be far more convenient for the corporations already based in and around the area.
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Equally important is his call for a coaching revolution. In an era where cricket has become hyper-technical, the reliance on ex-cricketers without formal coaching credentials is a disservice. “A player who hasn’t passed NCA’s Level 1 to Level 3 certifications should not be coaching. Would you send your child to a school where teachers never studied how to teach?” He is right. It’s time Indian cricket adopted the rigor that other countries insist upon. Coaching is not memory work; it is a scientific process of transformation.
He is not opposed to private academies. But he warns against the monopoly they create. “Some people run four or five clubs, dominate selections, and suppress others. HCA should empower its own Academy as the final platform — a place where the most promising kids from U12 to U23 are further sharpened. The Academy must be the crucible that forges tomorrow’s cricketers, not private interests with political connections.”
Importantly, Mohan Raj wants the selection process itself to become accountable. “Let selectors consult the Academy coaches before picking state teams. Don’t impose teams from the top. If you trust the coach to train them, trust him to judge them too.” That simple principle — of communication, coordination, and respect — is shockingly missing in today’s HCA.
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He doesn’t mince words about his own recent tenure. “I faced hurdles at every step. I refused to compromise. Maybe that’s why I was edged out. But if I don’t speak now, when will I?”
He ends with both a plea and a warning. “Is it a crime to demand a white paper on how HCA spends BCCI funds? Is that unfair? If things don’t change soon, we’ll lose not just our past but any chance of a future. Should we continue to live off past glories?”
These are not the rants of a bitter ex-cricketer. They are the reflections of a man who has lived cricket, bled for it, taught it — and still believes it can be saved, if only the right people step up, and the wrong one’s step down.
Hyderabad once gave Indian cricket a half-dozen stars in a single era — Abbas Ali Baig, ML Jaisimha, Jayantilal, Govindraj, Krishnamurthy, Azharuddin, Shivlal Yadav, VVS Laxman, Venkatapathy Raju.
Today, it struggles to send even one consistent performer, barring Siraj and Tilak, whose rise owes everything to those who identified and backed their talent.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s a consequence.
If Hyderabad cricket is to rise again, it must listen to men like Vijay Mohan Raj — men with no axe to grind, only a legacy to protect.
