Hyderabad : Shivlal Yadav vowed to work for the benefit of Hyderabad cricket during his tenure as the interim president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as part of a bigger task of improving the game in the country.“I will never let Hyderabad cricketers and the Hyderabad Cricket Association down,” Shivlal said to a thunderous applause during a felicitation function organised by the HCA at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium at Uppal here on Sunday.
The former cricketer also took the opportunity to express “gratitude to the government for allotting land for the construction of the cricket stadium.” Speaking at the function attended by HCA secretaries, cricketers and administrators, M.V. Sridhar, BCCI General Manager Cricket Operations, praised Shivlal and said “he truly deserves every bit” of his latest position.
Cyberabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand, who played state level cricket for Hyderabad in the 1980s, termed Shivlal’s appointment to the top BCCI post “a very proud moment for Hyderabad cricket.”“I am happy that someone dear to us has become the BCCI president. It’s not often that this type of opportunity — that of rising to the top level in administration — comes to ex-cricketers,” Anand said.
While lamenting the falling standards of the game in the region, the cricketer-cop said: “I am sure Shivlal will take this chance to turn Hyderabad cricket around.”
“I appeal to the Hyderabad Cricket Association Executive Committee members as well as secretaries of clubs to rebuild cricket in the City. Better grounds and pitches are the need of the hour. As a well-wisher of the game, I promise all support from the (general) administration,” Anand said while acknowledging Shivlal’s encouragement during his stint as a co-opted vice-president of the HCA in 2003.
He also recalled the origins of the swanky stadium at Uppal. “There were rocks, hillocks and a well right in the middle of the site. See what it has turned into now,” Anand said. HCA acting secretary S. Venkateswaran called his ‘good friend and mentor’ Shivlal’s elevation in the BCCI a “Red Letter Day for Hyderabad.”
“Shivlal is only the second Hyderabadi to hold the BCCI reigns, after Ghulam Ahmed was its secretary during 1975-76 to 1979-80,” Venkateswaran said, adding, “He is an able administrator who has achieved his objectives with great ease and aplomb.”
