Hyderabad, Aug. 21: The D-Day has arrived. The panel to run the affairs of Hyderabad cricket will be picked on Sunday when elections to the Hyderabad Cricket Association will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here.
Representatives of 210 clubs and 10 district associations will elect three vice-presidents, a secretary, a joint secretary, a treasurer and 12 executive committee members.
The United Club Secretaries, rivals to the Shivlal Yadav-led sitting members, on Saturday promised plenty of surprises as both groups kept cards close to their chests. “The results will be amazingly in favour of our group, which will strive for the upliftment of Hyderabad cricket,” said vice-presidential candidate G. Vivekanand, MP and brother of outgoing president G. Vinod.
“There is a simmering discontent among the members,” he added.
Speaking about the state of affairs, Vivek vowed that his group, if voted to power, would “develop grounds in and around Hyderabad and if needed, would rope in foreign coaches to improve the standard of the game in the city, which has been missing role models.”
Pledging to run the Association on professional lines and promising transparency, infrastructure and facilities, Vivek said: “We will ensure that the (Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket) stadium is complete in all respects.”
Secretary aspirant Man Singh said he would ensure all league teams are engaged in matches every Sunday, should he regain power. “We will also try and get a few of the 2011 World Cup games to Hyderabad since Ahmedabad has been struggling to get the Motera stadium ready in time,” he said, adding, “The two times India hosted the cricket World Cup — in 1987 and 1996 — Hyderabad had been allotted matches, albeit at the obsolete Lal Bahadur Stadium, which is way short of international standards.”
The UCS also raised objections with regard to the voters’ list put out at the HCA offices. They contended that six clubs — Royal, Cheerful Chums, Starlet, Chums XI, Continental and Superstar — have been misrepresented, and that returning officer Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, was unavailable to sort out the discrepancy. “I am struggling to reach him, and have been told by his staff that he does not want to entertain any matter pertaining to the HCA,” Masood Khan, legal counsel for the UCS, alleged.
“With issues unresolved, one cannot expect fair elections,” Masood rued.