Hyderabad Blues

Hyderabad, Dec. 18: The unthinkable has finally happened. The humiliation is complete. Hyderabad, champions of Ranji Trophy twice, have been shunted from the Elite to the Plate division and will now spend the next season rubbing shoulders with second grade teams.

The mere 7 points from as many matches placed them at the bottom of Group A thereby pushing them down to the second tier of the national domestic cricket competition. Having conceded the first innings lead to every opposition, including punching bags such as Himachal Pradesh and Orissa, they did not have much hope though. In fact, Hyderabad managed last-minute draws against the minnows.

So what went wrong with the team that had a huge advantage of playing all but one match at home? Everything. They did not bat, bowl, field or think properly. Most of them were neither in the right frame of mind nor body — a few resembled wrestlers!

The presence of two current international players — VVS Laxman and Pragyan Ojha — a handful of India ‘A’ players including captain Arjun Yadav, Ravi Teja and A. T. Rayudu; and a coach (Venkatapathy Raju) with 11 years of international experience as a player did not help either. Worse, when the team was faced with relegation, a two of these biggies bid goodbye, paving way for a couple of literal heavyweights — referred to as ‘vote players’ in Hyderabad Cricket Association circles because of the clout they wield during elections by virtue of owing clubs — to jump onto the sinking ship.

However, coach Raju contends “it was the best possible side picked” and that the State is sapped of bench strength “going by the not-so-high standard at the U-22 level, which is one rung below the Ranji team.”

Before the season began, Raju was upbeat about the return of the ICL players, despite whose abrupt departure Hyderabad had managed to stay afloat in the Elite division last season. He was right. Largely, only the ICL returnees performed — Rayudu was the highest run-getter with 473 runs and the only centurion until Abhinav Kumar (third best with 355) hit an inconsequential one on the last day. Alfred Absolom, another ex-ICL player, took 26 wickets to be best bowler.

Among the regulars, only Ahmed Quadri (376 runs at an average of 47) and allrounder M. P. Arjun (who scored 205 and took 21 wickets) were noteworthy.

Hyderabad took a hit as much on the ground as in the dressing room, courtesy inflated egos. After three games, in-form opener Suman was dropped after making 147 in five innings at an average of 29.40. Reason? “He got out playing a rash shot.” Shashank Nag, Suman’s replacement, was no better, averaging 24.33 in an equal number of innings.

Anirudh Singh, who was eventually pushed into the captain’s chair, was the fourth highest run-getter even as he played four innings less than the top three. That’s because he was not given a chance initially as he was coming back after breaking ranks with the ICL. Some logic.