MS Shanker Can there be anything more bizarre than a man under the scanner for corruption writing a letter demanding justice for others? That’s exactly what Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) Joint Secretary T. Basavaraju has done. Basavaraju—who is already facing heat after a parent accused his close aide of accepting a bribe for securing a…
How a Former Cricketer Hijacked a Supreme Court-Mandated Reform Panel MS Shanker In a damning new chapter in the saga of Hyderabad cricket’s administrative collapse, fresh revelations by former Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice N.A. Kakru, expose the internal sabotage of the very Supervisory Committee that was tasked with cleansing the…
Veteran Umpire Ramaswamy Breaks Silence: “Blame the Club Secretaries” MS Shanker After weeks of speaking to former Hyderabad cricketers—disillusioned, dejected but not defeated—I took a detour. On the advice of some wise old players and my former colleague Jagannath Das, I turned my attention to those who watch the game from the other side of…
In a move that defies logic, mocks national sentiment, and exposes dangerous double standards, the Indian government—through its Home Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs—has shockingly granted clearance to Pakistan’s national hockey team to participate in two major tournaments in India. The Asia Cup in Rajgir this August-September and the Junior Hockey World Cup…
MS Shanker It began with a phone call. An innocuous ring on a Monday evening. Within ten days, KN Radhakrishna (name changed), a 60-something retired resident of Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad, saw his entire life’s savings—over ₹1.36 crore—vanish into the digital ether. Not to a robber with a weapon, not to an elaborate Ponzi scheme, but to…
MS Shanker Last Sunday’s Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) AGM wasn’t a meeting—it was a reunion of rogues, a mafia-style roll call of those who have turned cricket administration into a looting syndicate. The date may have read 29 June 2025, but the stink in the hall smelled like it had been festering for decades. If…
Inside the Supervisory Committee Chaos: When Petty Power Games Derailed Reform MS Shanker The tragicomedy unfolding within the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) continues to offer a lesson—not in cricket administration—but in how not to run a public institution. At the heart of this slow-motion disaster lies a web of WhatsApp messages, passive-aggressive emails, backroom groupism,…
Reviving Hyderabad Cricket: A One-Man Crusade Against A Rotten Empire Interestingly, some episodes in this series have featured cricketers whose involvement in the murky politics of the state cricket association—through lobbying, backroom deals, and profiteering—may have upset many. Their actions arguably contributed to the decline of the game. Yet, my decision to feature them was…
Two southern Chief Ministers—Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu’s M.K. Stalin—have crossed a constitutional red line by issuing public statements on India’s foreign policy. In a federal democracy like India, foreign affairs are exclusively a matter for the Union Government. While state leaders may privately express disagreement, going public with condemnations—especially on sensitive international matters—is…
MS Shanker In my ongoing mission to uncover the reasons behind the decline of cricket in Telangana, particularly under the mismanagement of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), it is becoming disturbingly clear that the rot has gone from bad to worse. At the heart of this decay lies the infiltration of political opportunists into positions…
