Cricketers-turned-administrators bring baggage to the table

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The plight of Hyderabad cricket evokes two emotions. The first is “I told you so” for many moons ago I did say that Indian cricket was heading for disaster if important administrative positions were not filled by seasoned professionals and if the untrained cricketers, believing that they have the experience and knowledge to administer the huge cache of talent (especially in Hyderabad) that has been our hallmark, are allowed to manage affairs.

The second emotion is sadness. How can such a superb cricketing system come to such pitiful levels? Sadly the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, probably one of the best wicket-keepers that we have produced, can do nothing for Hyderabad Cricket Association is not a government body.
Similar is the case with the Board of Cricket Control for India, it does not officially represent the country for it is also not a government body. This is why the issue of club over country does not arise.
Cricketers, especially the big guns, when they retire go through something called ‘remorse’. They fail to comprehend the sudden drop in esteem, the lack of turning heads, erosion of fame and popularity.
Frustration infuses in them a desperation which is sad to see, especially if you know them personally and have to sit through the many drunken nights of self-glorification with them. Instead of proving themselves on the field they try and do the same outside the ground and, more often than not, land up making a complete nuisance of themselves.
Make them administrators and instead of understanding the cricketer, empathising with him, helping him along on his difficult journey, they become cold, vicious, calculating ogres. Their ego leads them to master the art of nepotism.
They fail to see the weakness of administrators, those that hurt them in their careers, those that they cursed through their playing days. They bring so much baggage to the administrators’ table that instead of doing good for the game, they tend to take out all the frustrations of their past on the cricket that they control. As a result the entire system crashes.
Now I am not saying that this is what has happened to Hyderabad cricket, but what I am suggesting to all my friends involved in administrating Hyderabad cricket is to at least sit back and introspect whether what I have said above is applicable to them or not.
Having played and written on the game for so long the most crucial lesson that I have learnt is that both cricketer and non-cricketer administrators need to be aware of the lure of nepotism and corruption.
Both come with power and both erode the very fabric of the game. Once a person is corrupted he forgets that beautiful game called cricket.
If any person in Hyderabad feels that he has failed Hyderabad cricket then maybe it’s time for him to step down and allow the non-cricketers, the Man Singh’s of this world to weave their magic, once again.
Though I had personal differences with Man, to such an extent that I left the state to play for Haryana, it would be false to state that Hyderabad cricket did not reach its zenith under his leadership. And if Man Singh cannot get back as secretary, make him the mentor of HCA and allow him to guide the lesser mortals for there can be no doubt that Hyderabad cricket needs guidance and in my view needs a Man Singh.
It’s amazing how quite a few cricket administrators that haven’t played cricket remain desperate wannabe cricketers all their lives and this in a sense remains their saving grace. Though ego takes its toll on these awfully vulnerable people, the fact that they haven’t played the game makes them sensitive to cricket and its players, thereby, compared to cricketers, making them better administrators.
My final plea to my friend cricket administrators in Hyderabad, ‘come on chaps pull up your socks, forget your egos and personal differences Give us Hyderabadis back our cricket and our cricketers. Give Hyderabad back its lost glory.’