Nov. 4: Venkatapathy Raju and Vivek Jaisimha, the chief coach and batting coach of the Hyderabad cricket team respectively have quit owning moral responsibility after the side crashed to the Ranji Trophy lowest score of 21 this week but it seems there was very little they could do.

“Even (former India coach) John Wright cannot do anything with this bunch. I am sure even Gary Kirsten would be f..... if he’s given charge of this team,” said an angry HCA insider, venting his ire. But the Hyderabad Cricket Association is determined to stick to its same old ways. The coaches’ resignations have not been accepted, and will come up for discussion during an executive committee meeting on Saturday.

All is well: Arshad

HCA president Arshad Ayub hinted at the outcome of that meeting as he downplayed the debacle and backed his team. “The coaches cannot be condemned. Both Venkatapathy Raju and Vivek Jaisimha have played enough cricket at very high levels and are qualified (level 3) coaches,” he said.

Arshad is also not in favour of revamping the team. “For one match, we cannot let down everybody. After all it’s a game. It’s true that the team has disappointed and shocked us, and we accept responsibility,” he said.

However, none of the other HCA officials have expressed any such intent. Arshad says the HCA did all it could in the build-up to the Ranji Trophy season. “We’ve had a process, a one-month pre-season preparatory camp, played three-day league matches and all these boys performed very well, basing on which we selected two sides — one for the Buchi Babu tournament in Chennai and the other for the KSCA event, both all-India level tournaments. After that we picked three sides for Moin-ud Dowla to ensure everybody got exposure. One of our teams in fact won the tournament. Then, we had the zonals... we put them through a rigorous process,” he explained.

Coach Raju maintains there was no way of detecting the disaster. “The preparation ahead of the season has been good. They did well during the practice sessions too but on the field it was a different story. These guys were no debutants, they’ve played enough cricket to understand the nuances of the game,” he said.

Vote players

Man Singh, who lost the HCA elections in August after contesting for the post of secretary, disagrees. “The HCA cares less for the game and more for votes. The officials who are in office bestow favours on former cricketers with valuable coaching contracts and please clubs with grants for equipment that are often misused in order to garner votes. But what can anyone do if the voting clubs favour those in power at the annual general meetings?” the former secretary rues.

“In the olden days, the HCA produced so many class cricketers. In 1971, on those famous twin tours of the West Indies and England there were nearly half a dozen from the city — Jaisimha, Jayantilal, Krishnamurthy, Abid Ali and Govindaraj. Today we have just Laxman and Ojha in the Indian team,” he points out.

Arshad feels it’s a tall order. “What we are looking at this point of time is a miracle, which does not happen overnight. We’ve gone down to the Plate division last year and it will take time to turn around. This is a transition period and I want to remain patient,” he says.

Slur on selectors

HCA sources say batting coach Vivek Jaisimha wanted eight players who were part of the Moin-ud Dowla winning team in the Ranji side but they were split into the U-19 and U-22 squads currently playing South Zone matches, sending wrong signals to the youngsters.

That points to flaws in the selection process. However, Arshad defends the ‘wise men.’ “The selectors are above board, and would have picked the best possible combination. Everyone in cricket circles knows that Abdul Azeem, chairman of the selection committee, has a mind of his own... no one can coax or push him into picking a particular player,” Arshad claims.

However, Raju confessed: “They picked the same team that brought us down from the Elite to the Plate division last year. We couldn’t do much.”

Future tense

There are talented players at the junior level but grooming as well as treating them right is the key lest they abandon the home state in serach of greener pasteurs — A.T. Rayudu being a case in point. The top-order batsman has chosen to play for Baroda in the current Ranji season after getting into the bad books of HCA authorities.

Promising batsman Tirumalsetti Suman too has been caught up in the whirlwind for the moment. There is a new crop fast growing up the junior ranks. Batsmen G.H. Vihari and Benjamin Thomas to name a couple. The HCA has a responsibility to prime them, and hope things get back on track.