Hyderabad Cricket Association elections scheduled for September, Mohammad Azharuddin to stand for President

After several delays, the Hyderabad Cricket Association finally met at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Sunday for its Annual General Meeting and took several important decisions, including that of when its elections for the next term will be held.

“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,” former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin was quoted saying by Sportstar.

The elegant batsman had also tried to stand for elections a couple of years ago, but his nomination for President had not been accepted. However, this time around, the 56-year-old is intent on fighting for the post and helping cricket develop in his home city. 

“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.

Over the past few years, a very limited number of cricketers from the city have made it into the Indian team, with recently retired Ambati Rayudu the most prominent name in recent years to have come from the surrounding areas.

“We are not that bad not to have one good player in the Sunrisers Hyderabad 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,” Azharuddin added.

Further, it was decided that the junior selection committee will be headed by former international Noel David, while also consisting of 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,” current President Dr. K. Anil Kumar added.