Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin is eying a return to administration. On Tuesday, he announced that he would stand for the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA Elections). He will once again contest for the president’s role. He took charge as the HCA President in 2019 but his term came to a premature end with Supreme Court appointing a Committee of Administrators (CoA) for HCA. With Hyderabad hosting Pakistan and 5 World Cup 2023 matches (two warm-ups), HCA need a strong leader.
The decision comes a day after the HCA CoA barred 57 clubs from contesting or casting their vote in the HCA elections. Considered one of the most corrupt cricket associations in India, HCA is eying a revamp. The elections are likely to be held next month.
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During Mohammad Azharuddin tenure, the HCA was plagued by infighting within the HCA Apex Council. As it reached Supreme Court, the SC dissolved the body and appointed a CoA.
If elected to power again, the former India skipper has vowed to lift HCA from the shadows of corruption.
“I will fight the election which is expected to be held by September 15. I am very happy this has happened (bar on clubs) as the situation was prevailing for the last 14 years. The association was not being allowed to work (due to the club nexus). Now the association will improve a lot,” Mohammad Azharuddin told PTI.
”I am not the owner of any club. As an international player I am allowed to contest the election,’‘ Mohammad Azharuddin told PTI.
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The HCA has been awarded three ODI World Cup games and the tournament’s two warm-up matches. Azharuddin’s main area of focus would be to make HCA financially self-sufficient and not overly reliant on BCCI funding.
”The biggest challenge is to improve the game, improve the facilities. We need to be self-sufficient financially. The other associations have a lot of funds. Hyderabad has been hand-to-mouth and has to depend on the BCCI. It has been magnanimous and helped in all ways possible,” Azhar said.
“We need to have our own funds to be able to pay the employees. We have only one ground and we must have more grounds like the other associations.
“We spend lakhs of rupees on renting grounds for local league matches and sometimes those grounds are not up to the mark. When the facilities are not good the standard of cricket will go down. So we need to fix that,” said the 60-year-old.
The corruption is not only confined to the administrative level, it is entrenched in selection matters too.
“All of it will go away when the association works for the welfare of the game. Two years of my last tenure went away in legal battles. Despite the problems, I tried my best. It is pretty clear that our performance on the field has not been up to the mark,” added Azharuddin.
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