Hyderbad Cricket Association polls to begin today

Hyderabad: It’s judgement day at the Hyderabad Cricket Association. After hectic campaigning, 155 private clubs, 51 institutional ones, 9 district associations and 11 former international players will vote on Friday to elect six members to the Apex Council that will steer the game in the State.

For the first time, former internationals will get to exercise their franchise and would play an active part in shaping up the Association that controls cricket in the State.

Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin is angling for the lead role as he matches his wits against Prakash Chand Jain and K. Dilip Kumar for the president’s post.

Traditional heavyweights N. Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub, Man Singh and the Agarwals are playing behind the scenes this time around as they fall foul of the sniping Lodha Committee recommendations.

However, the consortium controls a good chunk of the votes and is pulling strings from behind the curtain and throwing their weight behind the panel led by Azhar.

There’s a block with multiple votes and then there are the single voters who are trying to huddle together to punch big. Also, there are a considerable number that are open to negotiations and can be swung when persisted with. Yes, money does flow freely off the field.

There’s so much at stake besides the cricket — awarding of contracts and getting men in positions on committees or HCA related works are the bargaining chips in the grimy game.

On election eve, members of the single club group led by treasurer aspirant C. Babu Rao and secretary contestant R. M. Bhaskar released their manifesto, promising to develop infrastructure, pick players purely on the basis of performance, round the year coaching camps, free coaching in the districts and boost the women’s game among others.

The others, well, they’ve been promising everything under the sky, even the moon.
The ones in their elements will be known when the sun sets on the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium today.

The Contestants
President: Mohammad Azharuddin, Prakash Chand Jain, K. Dilip Kumar.
Vice-president: K. John Manoj, Sardar Daljeet Singh.
Secretary: R. M. Bhaskar, R. Vijayanand, S. Venkateshwaran.
Joint Secretary: J. Shivaji Yadav, Naresh Sharma, Satish Chandra Srivastava.
Treasurer: C. Babu Rao, Surender Kumar Agarwal, K. Hanmanth Reddy.
Councillor: P. Anuradha, Ravinder Singh, Vinod Kumar.