Special Reports
Shekhar Maramraju In the modern hyper-connected era, internet folklore has an uncanny ability to morph into widely accepted alternative reality. Few subjects demonstrate this phenomenon better than the legend of the TR-3B “Black Manta”—a persistent aerospace rumour and unverified conspiracy theory that completely lacks official military proof, documentation, or physical evidence. The myth recently saw…
For generations, Indian traditions such as homas and yajnas have often been dismissed in some quarters as superstition, blind faith or meaningless ritual. But what happens when something embedded in an ancient tradition is subjected to a scientific experiment and produces a measurable result? That is precisely where the conversation about havan smoke becomes interesting….
Children are a face of God. When they are young, they play with innocence, freedom and a remarkable ability to perform without carrying the burden of expectations. In cricket, particularly at the junior level, that performance should matter far more than the labels we attach to a youngster. We often hear that a particular boy…
We wish to make it yet again abundantly clear to the administrators of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) that whatever appears in the Orangenews9 Sports pages or columns concerning the Association is based on hard facts and information shared by aggrieved parties and others, particularly as no other mainstream media platform has chosen to provide…
U Lakshman Rao “We realize the value of something only when it is no longer available.” Few truths describe our relationship with water more accurately. When water flows freely from a tap, its presence becomes almost invisible to us. We turn the handle, and water appears; we drink it, cook with it, wash with it,…
India has become so accustomed to the convenience of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) that many of us have forgotten what life was like before instant digital payments became part of everyday life. Yet, whenever there is a discussion about charges associated with digital transactions, some of the criticism seems disproportionate. The larger question is simple:…
Vinay Rao It is an Under-19 match on a Hyderabad ground. A lean eighteen-year-old runs in and bowls his best ball. The batsman facing him is a grown man: broad-shouldered, heavy-forearmed, with a full beard. He is twenty-three. He swats the ball over midwicket without effort. Then he does it again. By the end of…
History has a curious way of leaving clues in places historians sometimes overlook. One such clue may be standing quietly in our fields: the Indian humped cattle, or zebu. For more than a century, the idea that a nomadic race of “Aryans” invaded India around 1500 BCE, destroyed the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), and introduced…
Special Correspondent On 24 April 2026, the Telangana High Court reconfirmed Justice (Retd.) P. Naveen Rao as the Single Member Committee overseeing the Hyderabad Cricket Association, and did more than renew a tenure — it sharpened one. The Court defined an eight-point scope of authority, directed the Apex Council to work in coordination with the…
Hyderabad is not just another cricketing centre. It is a founding member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and has contributed to Indian cricket in almost every department — administration, umpiring, playing and coaching. Yet, when one looks back at the history of Indian cricket, there is an unmistakable feeling that Hyderabad’s…
