The group projected bright future for Hyderabad cricket in their hands
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Hyderabad: The slog overs have started in the biggest biennial match at the Hyderabad Cricket Association but the ruling group have begun rather defensively. Ahead of Sunday’s elections, they sought to clarify the most contentious issue of overstaying in office and taking some important decisions during that period even as they projected a pile of positives and a bright future for Hyderabad cricket in their hands.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the G. Vinod/ M. V. Sridhar panel attributed the delay in holding elections to the IPL, court cases and the completion of their two-year term that they contend ended only in July. However, they promised to work out a solution in future to amend the constitution, according to which polls to the Association should be held on the last Sunday of May.
That dealt with, the group flexed HCA’s financial muscle. “We started with a deficit of Rs 8 crore when we took over in July 2012, cleared all liabilities and now have a balance of Rs10 crore,” M. V. Sridhar, who is running for vice-president, said as he patted treasurer Naresh Sharma for bringing in financial discipline in the Association. “Our panel is a good mix of people representing clubs, state institutions, educational institutions,” Sridhar, former Hyderabad Ranji captain, said.
There are politicians and businessmen too on board. Former state labour minister and presidential candidate G. Vinod expressed his desire to get the HCA complete ownership of the land on which the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is built. It is currently on lease for a 30-year period that started in 1998.Secretary aspirant S. Venkateshwaran was given due credit for keeping the local league on even as HCA was in turmoil via court cases, allegations and a lot of bad blood. “We have had a decent season and have done our best to ensure cricket is played in an atmosphere of utmost sincerity and competition,” he said, adding all two-day games were now being played on turf wickets.
“The senior team’s runner-up finish at the recent all-India Buchi Babu tournament augurs well,” he added.Venkateshwaran has been the acting secretary since November 2013 after Sridhar was appointed BCCI’s cricket operations manager, a role that required his full-time attention. Asked whether he would find enough time to juggle his jobs in the BCCI as well as HCA, Sridhar clarified that he chose to contest as a vice-president (of the five) precisely for that leverage. “Our loyalties (roots) do pull us back.”
The group also vowed to improve the game in districts. “From last year we have been conducting age level tournaments as well as a regular league for the districts,” Venkateshwaran said.Vice-presidential nominee Sheshnarayan said stress would also be laid on U-14, U-16 and U-19 teams. “We also propose to start the women’s league,” he promised, adding “the panel has also decided to assign stadium-related tasks to club secretaries on remunerative basis.”
With all sections covered, questions were asked about the welfare of the general public with regard to covering of the East and West stands at the RGICS that are open to sky. The response was not so encouraging. “Engineer-ing firms have found it not quite feasible, but we will explore the possibility,” Sridhar said. As artiste Adele aptly sang for the James Bond movie, Let the sky fall!
The panel
President: G. Vinod
Vice presidents: G. Vivekanand, M. V. Sridhar, E. Venkatram Reddy, T. Sheshnarayan, D. Kishan Rao.
Secretary: S. Venkateshwaran.
Joint Secretaries: T. Basava Raju, Gerard Carr.
Treasurer: Naresh Sharma
EC members: P. Narasimha Reddy, K. Anil Kumar, Daljeet Singh, P. Mahendra, Chitti Sridhar, Srinivas Chakravarthy, DAJ Walter, S. Arun Kumar, G. Manohar Reddy, P. Sridhar, L.B. Laxmikanth Rathod, Vanka Mahender.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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