Hyderabad Cricket Association elections to be held in September

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin will enter the fray to fight for the president’s post.

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin after attending the Hyderabad Cricket Association AGM in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Mohammad Azharuddin, the former India captain, is pleased at the decision taken at the Annual General Meeting of the Hyderabad Cricket Association to conduct elections in the first week of September.

“Glad that finally [the meeting] went off thanks to the intervention of seniors like Shivlal Yadav, and the most important decision was obviously on elections since the BCCI itself has set a deadline of September 14 for all State associations to complete the process of elections,” Azhar said after the AGM which lasted close to two hours at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.

Azharuddin has made it clear that he would be contesting the elections , in all probability for the president’s post. It may be recalled that his nomination for the same post was rejected in 2017 when he tried to contest the last time.

‘Have to look ahead’

“I must say the members are happy that I am willing to work for the game. We can’t recover the past, have to look at the future. We have to look ahead and take the association forward as nothing is happening right now,” Azhar said.

Azharuddin said he was saddened by the fact that players from Hyderabad weren’t getting the chances to play in major tournaments, including the Indian Premier League (IPL). “We are not that bad not to have one good player in the Sunrisers Hyerabad in IPL. While all the other franchises have three or four local players, there should have been at least a couple of them in the Hyderabad-based franchisee,” he said.

Azharuddin revealed that there had been no discussion on Ambati Rayudu’s retirement at the AGM. He also said he wasn’t aware of any requests being made to the HCA appealing to force the cricketer to take back his decision.

Meanwhile, Dr. K. Anil Kumar, in-charge president of the HCA, has informed that the AGM has formed the junior selection committee. It will be headed by former international Noel David; the other members are Abdul Azeem, Rajesh Yadav, J. Shivaji Yadav and Vivek Jaisimha.

“The Cricket Advisory Committee comprising former Test cricketers M. V. Narasimha Rao, S. L. Venkatapathi Raju and the former India women’s captain Purnima Rau was also constituted which will in turn name the senior selection panel,” Dr. Anil said.