Bengaluru: The rift within the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has brought major shame to the Hyderabad cricket nationally and ultimately led to the withdrawal of the invitation by the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) to participate in a tournament that is slated to commence from Wednesday. Controversy erupted on Sunday when the HCA announced two separate teams for the tournament, one which was cleared by the Secretary and the other by the Apex Council — each claiming legitimacy.
KSCA secretary Sudhakar Rao told this newspaper that on account of Hyderabad sending two teams, “We have decided to withdraw the invitation to the HCA and move on with the tournament”. “They can’t field two teams and we cannot accept two teams. We want our tournament to run smoothly and hence we have decided to withdraw the invitation,” Mr Sudhakar Rao said The teams had not yet reached Bengaluru when the decision was made to withdraw the invitation.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association tournament is one of the warm-up events in the run-up to the domestic first class competition—Ranji Trophy — but the internal fight in the HCA has put the future of the state cricketers in turmoil. Earlier, Hyderabad Cricket Association secretary T. Sheshnarayan had contended that under the Association rules, he was the convenor of the meetings and that the team endorsed by the Apex Council which reconstituted selection committees just a day before, without his knowledge, was not valid.
The Apex Council itself is a divided house. Out of the nine members, the president is disqualified, there are no representatives of the male and female players’ associations while the CAG nominee has not been attending meets due to personal reasons, it is learnt. That leaves just five — the secretary, joint secretary, vice-president, treasurer and a council member — running the show, vying for a 3-2 majority at meets. The sub-tussle is also about who should convene the Apex Council meetings — the secretary or the CEO.
