By Vinay Rao The Hyderabad cricket ecosystem today resembles a long-running soap opera — selection controversies, corruption whispers, byelaw acrobatics, election drama and administrative flip-flops unfolding episode after episode. The latest instalment, surrounding the B-Division League semifinals under the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), reads less like sport and more like a screenplay — with the…
By Vinay Rao Hyderabad cricket is no longer merely battling on the field. It is battling for institutional credibility. For over a year, the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has resembled an organisation trapped in administrative turbulence rather than a professional sporting body. Opaque selections. Disputed appointments. Byelaws allegedly stretched to convenience. Leadership legitimacy under challenge….
By Vinay Rao Time for a Wake-Up Call Why is it acceptable to lose—repeatedly—while continuing to rely on the same small pool of players? The latest example is the loss against Mumbai by eight wickets. Hyderabad had ideal conditions: batting first and then bowling on a wearing wicket. If ever there was a match to…
By Vinay Rao There was genuine hope when Justice Naveen Rao was appointed court-appointed administrator of Hyderabad cricket. For a brief moment, that hope seemed justified. Promotion matches concluded without chaos. League cricket began on schedule. After years of turbulence, the system appeared to be finding its balance again. But that confidence is now visibly fraying. The…
By Vinay Rao Blaming parents has become the easiest reflex in India’s cricketing ecosystem—more so in this part of the country. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Hyderabad Cricket Association, an institution entangled in controversy, allegations of corruption, nepotism, and a web of legal battles. Matters are pending not only with state investigating…
By Vinay Rao For years, the prevailing wisdom around Hyderabad cricket has been one of resignation. Nothing changes, many said. The system is too entrenched, the networks too deep, the corridors of power too insulated from scrutiny. Corruption, nepotism, and selective governance, critics argued, had become features rather than flaws. And yet, dissent has a…
By Vinay Rao How will Hyderabad find its next Mohammad Siraj or Tilak Varma if the talent pool itself remains narrow? When the same players are repeatedly rotated through age-group and senior sides until they eventually succeed, opportunity becomes persistence-driven rather than merit-driven. Such insulation may work briefly at the domestic level, but it becomes a liability…
What an Administrative Misjudgement, Selection Bias, and Ethical Blind Spots Are Undermining the Game? By Vinay Rao Hyderabad, after setting a target of 269 and reducing Jammu & Kashmir to 99/7, appeared to be heading towards a regulation win. What followed was unthinkable. An eighth-wicket partnership turned the match on its head and carried J&K…
Hope readers remember this headline—the very one with which your e-paper launched an exposure series against what had become one of the most compromised and corroded state cricket bodies in the country. The tragedy was not merely administrative rot, but the painful irony that many of the destroyers were once national representatives themselves. Exposing this…
By Vinay Rao Hyderabad’s junior cricket did not merely underperform this season — it came perilously close to public humiliation. Across the U23, U19, and U16 levels, results revealed a disturbing pattern: transparency discarded, form ignored, and selections driven more by narrative and influence than by merit. The warning signs are no longer subtle. The…
