Hyderabad, Nov. 6: Stung by the humiliation of Hyderabad being bundled out for a Ranji Trophy low of 21 last week, the selectors swung the axe at four seniors while one got away during a stormy session that stretched to almost five hours on Saturday.
Arjun Yadav, Anirudh Singh, Anoop Pai and M.P. Arjun were left out of the side that will play Jharkhand starting on November 10. They have been replaced by Hyderabad U-22 teammates Parth Jhala, B. Sandeep, G.H. Vihari and Baseer.
However, there was disagreement among the selectors — Abdul Azeem, Vanka Pratap, N.P. Singh and Shaik Riazuddin — with regard to retaining another senior, Ibrahim Khaleel, which resulted in Vanka walking out of the meet.
Vanka felt his fellow selectors were biased, and used a separate yardstick (that of past performance) for Khaleel, it is reliably learnt. But, Saturday’s was an emergency meeting called to take disciplinary action for the Jaipur debacle and Vanka, who is also a member of the national junior selection committee, was of the view that none of the seniors should be spared. Vanka was also of the opinion that his colleagues were not willing to apply the ‘past performance’ paradigm to other players, sources in the Hyderabad Cricket Association said.
Earlier in the day, the HCA committee accepted the resignations of chief coach Venkatapathy Raju and batting coach Vivek Jaisimha.
Chairman of selectors Abdul Azeem will take charge of the team for the next match against Jharkhand while M. V. Sridhar, former Ranji captain and member of the HCA Cricket Development Committee, has agreed to coach the side for the remaining three games.
The HCA also okayed the resignation of U-19 coach Kanwaljit Singh, who put in his papers after the side lost all four games. Former cricketer and coach Vijay Mohan Raj has been appointed Kanwaljit’s successor.
“They have resigned on moral grounds. We have accepted the resignations,” HCA president Arshad Ayub said.
Arshad was at a loss to explain the batting break down. “These are few things which occur on rare occasions. It has been disappointing. I don’t have the answers how any team could get out for 21,” he said.
“The coaches have filed their reports. They have basically said the senior players have not taken up the responsibility, particularly since these players have been playing for quite some time. They feel there should be a change,” Arshad added.
Asked about the possibility of employing coaches from outside Hyderabad, Arshad said: “At this point and at short notice, we couldn’t have got coaches from anywhere. But, if a coach came from outside he would not have time to know the players. It was because of the time constraint we requested Sridhar who has a great experience in Ranji Trophy cricket to take over for the season.”
There was more trouble for the HCA ahead of the morning meet as Telangana protestors raised slogans at the Uppal Stadium against the team’s performance. Arshad sought to pacify them in view of the upcoming India-New Zealand Test, to be played from November 12 o 16.
“It is a prestigious issue for the people of Telangana to host the Test match. I request them to help us conduct the match without any problem and ensure it goes off smoothly. All the issues can be sorted later,” Arshad said.
The police too has been called in. “Mr Shiv Prasad, in charge of the zone, has had a detailed discussion on security. He knows how the job has to be done. He has given us the assurances for tight security,” Arshad said.