When Even the Balls Were Fixed
Stadium chairs are bad enough. But cricket without balls? That’s not just corruption — that’s sacrilege. Yet the HCA managed to pull it off, with the finesse of a street-corner hustler palming cards.
The forensic audit uncovered the great cricket ball scam of 2020–22. It revolved around two shady vendors: M/s Sara Sports and M/s Abid Sports. On paper, they looked like competitors. In reality, they shared the same business address, submitted identical quotations, and operated as a tag-team cartel. Add a third bidder — Nand India Sports — and you had the perfect illusion of competition. Except even their quotation was a carbon copy, suggesting all three were typed up by the same ghost hand.
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In 2020–21, HCA ordered 2,000 red Test balls and 750 white Test balls. The delivery? Barely half arrived. The stock registers were doctored so clumsily that multiple versions floated around. The Material Received Report showed only 930 red and 372 white balls. Yet full payment was cleared. A shortfall of 1,070 red balls and 378 white balls, worth ₹25.18 lakh, simply vanished into thin air. No explanation. No recovery. Just a cash drain disguised as cricket.
Worse, cheques were issued without approval. Bank vouchers went unsigned, but payments still slipped through. It wasn’t procurement; it was looting with stationery.
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Any sane organisation would have blacklisted the vendor then and there. Not the HCA. In 2021–22, the same clique was handed another order for 2,000 red balls. The tender was designed to keep rivals out — submissions open for just two days, one of which was a Sunday. Again, Sara Sports bagged the deal. Again, full payment was made upfront: ₹38.26 lakh. And again, the vendor couldn’t even be traced when auditors went looking. Sara Sports was a ghost firm, not functioning from its official or alternate addresses.
To prove the extent of the overpricing, auditors compared rates. A legitimate vendor, Krishnaveni Sports, quoted ₹392 per red ball and ₹420 per white ball. Sara Sports had billed HCA ₹70.12 lakh for what should have cost just ₹18.83 lakh. That’s a margin of ₹51.29 lakh — a daylight robbery in broad daylight.
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The symbolism here is brutal. Chairs may be furniture, gyms may be equipment. But cricket balls are the game itself. To scam the very instrument of play is to announce, with no shame, that Hyderabad cricket is not about cricket at all. It is about contracts, cartels, and cheques.
The audit’s revelations didn’t just end in paperwork. Criminal complaints were filed at Uppal Police Station in October 2023. Four FIRs — Nos. 1137 to 1140 — now stand against those involved. Whether they lead to real accountability or drown in procedural quicksand is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, whispers continue about another cesspool waiting to be uncovered: corruption in player selections.
As the dust settled, a new Apex Council was elected: A. Jagan Mohan Rao as President, Sardar Daljeet Singh as Vice President, R. Devaraj as Secretary, T. Basava Raju as Joint Secretary, C.J. Srinivas Rao as Treasurer, and Sunil Kumar as Councillor. They inherited not just an association but a crime scene.
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Hyderabad cricket, once proud and feared, is now mocked as a case study in how to loot a sport dry. When even the balls are fixed, what’s left to salvage?
