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| (Farjana K. Godhuly/AFP/Getty Images; via Rediff.com 2003) |
Along the way, however, life intervened and after serving a (still rankling) "suspension" for playing in the ICL, Rayudu came back to prominence playing for the Mumbai Indians in the recent edition of the IPL.
In the years before the ICL, he had significant problems with the Hyderabad Cricket Association, particularly with the nepotism of Shivlal Yadav, who favored his son Arjun Yadav over others. It is a measure of the (mis)management of Shivlal that his son even managed to play a game for India in England while AT Rayudu never even came close to sniffing a spot in the Indian team. Three years ago I was so angry about this state of affairs, I wrote about it on my blog. Not surprisingly, since everyone in the BCCI selectorial committee and their mothers read my blog, Arjun Yadav has not shown his face near an Indian dressing room again.
Anyway, I digress. The reason I am raking up the past is that AT Rayudu is going to play for Baroda this upcoming Ranji season (by the way, I thought it was Vadodara...what happened to that?) and the Hyderabad coach, Venkatapathy Raju is spitting all over playing the "how dare he back-stab us?" card.
"It was done in bad taste," Raju told PTI. "As a senior member of the team, he should have taken the responsibility to guide Hyderabad this season. He should have been loyal to Hyderabad. This move reflects his commitment to the Hyderabad team."Please, Raju. You ill-treat a fellow for years, treat him like a pariah, and then expect him to stick with you now. Heck, the Deccan Chargers did not get him into their team when the ICL-related suspension was revoked. Where was the loyalty you speak of then?
Here's a prediction for you, Raju. As long as the Yadavs are in charge of Hyderabad cricket I don't see Rayudu playing for us.
(Full disclosure: Many, many years ago, during my schooldays, I batted against Raju in an inter-house cricket match. I was bowled first ball by him. It was on that day that I realized that a slow left-arm spinner was not really that slow, after all!).
4 comments:
well - so Raju is gone as the Head Coach, the axe seems to have also fallen on Vivek Jaisimha who has quit as the batting coach, Arjun Yadav and some other "senior" players have apparently been dropped from the team too - have they ousted Shivlal Yadav from the cricket administration in Hyderabad as well?
Also read that Arshad Ayub is in charge now - is he a part of Shivlal Yadav's coterie too or is he a rival (and hopefully positive) force in the administration of cricket in Hyderabad?
Hello Jaunty, I just came across your blog while searching for articles bashing the Yadavs. There weren't many I must say, given the Local english media's(read DC) resolve or the lack of it to highlight corruption in AP.
Yadav has been taking Hyd down the hill(not that we were on top prior - but relatively OK) for quite a while now. He persisted(rather inisisted) that Yadav Jr, should be part of all teams bottom up starting from Hyd. Be it South Zone or Challenger series etc and heck he even got this Batsman with very inferior abilities to that of Noel "WHO" David an Indian cap. They ruined a promosing batsman's(Rayudu) career by driving him off to ICL.
It's well known that in the Hyd League setup, it's only Money and connections can win you a place in the Hyd'Badi team. Only really exceptional talent like a Laxman or Rayudu get a place on the sheer weight of their performances. Yadav had made a mockery of this selection process and the result has been that we find ourselves relegated to Plate division where we were humiliated by Rajasthan.
It finally took Hyd to enter record books for the wrong reasons that People had started noticing HCA functioning and there has been an outpour of anger against HCA. I am glad one Yadav has been accounted for and waiting for the Sr. Yadav to be gone in next elections. But looks like he will be a big player in the national scene.
The media has been lauding Shivlal for building the HCA stadium. The stadium was long overdue and Shivlal saw an opporunity there to make money. They constantly missed deadlines, the budget overshot by many fold etc.
Anyway, I am glad that I came across your blog and I must admit you are a very good writer. I am a sports enthusiast and was surprised taht you havent restricted your writing to Cricket alone. I will add the blog to my favorites.
Thanks,
KK
BD, alas, Yadav Sr. has not been kicked off the HCA radar. The fellow has moved up in the world and is in the upper echelon of the BCCI. Wonders never cease. Or, in this case, since it is the BCCI we are talking about it should come as no surprise. After all, where else will you find a pig than in the dirt?
K, very insightful comment on the state of affairs of the HCA. The area where the new cricket stadium was built was where I spent many of my teenage years. The hillock, next to the stadium, was where we used to go "rock climbing" every evening. I went to the Lal Bahadur stadium a couple of weeks ago (pictures coming shortly on the blog) and rode by the Gymkhana "stadium" and Parade Grounds and remembered your words.
Greed got us a new stadium in Hyderabad. A more sensible usage of that money would have been to either build a stadium at Gymkhana or refurbish the one at Fateh Maidan and use the remaining money to provide better playing conditions for the various HCA leagues.
Gah!
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