HCA yet to name senior selectors for new season

Hyderabad: Amid all controversy and uncertainty, the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has successfully completed six rounds of local league matches but strangely it has yet to name the five senior selectors or the coaches for the new domestic season.

The wrangling in the association has led to this stalemate yet again even as other states have already named the selectors, coaches and probable players. The closing date for registration of the players to BCCI is August 28.

The BCCI domestic calendar kicks off with women’s and men’s under-19 tournaments in September before the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 is slated to be held in October. The Vijay Hazare one-day tournament is scheduled in December while Ranji Trophy season starts from January 15.

As per the Lodha Committee Reforms, the senior selectors are to be named by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC). It is nearly three years and unfortunately a CAC has yet to be formed. Although the secretary R Vijayanand group had named the CAC of MV Narasimha Rao, Sudeep Tyagi and Sravanthi in the `Special General Meeting’ there is no word whether it has been accepted or officially come into function. This has led to confusion and uncertainty.

Interestingly, HCA named an ad-hoc selection committee and last season it even named a two-member selection committee of Arvind Shetty and Anwar Ahmed to pick the team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament much against the norms of Lodha Committee reforms. It courted controversy. There was a lot of resentment and many allegations of manipulation while selecting the 21-member jumbo team. It led to protests at Gymkhana ground.

Incidentally, the Ranji Trophy was cancelled last season because of Covid-19 pandemic.

The last Annual General Meeting (AGM) had announced the junior selection committee of Ethesham Ali Khan (chairman), Anwar Ahmed, Indrasekhar Reddy and Habeeb Ahmed. Ashwin Yadav too was in the panel but his unfortunate death has reduced committee to four members now. His replacement is yet to be announced.

It is interesting to note that the selectors who have served in the past have not been paid their remuneration. This has led to a lot of anger among the former players. “The remuneration to the selectors and pension to former players had been ratified in the AGM but why is it not being paid is a mystery,’’ lamented a former player.