Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Cricket academy: SCB yet to approve plan

HYDERABAD: Secunderabad Cantonment Board is yet to approve any sanctioned plan for the proposed Cricket Academy for Excellence at Gymkhana Grounds (Secunderabad). There is lot of discontent brewing in the Hyderabad Cricket Association on this subject which is expected to cost at least Rs. 3 to 5 crore by some rough estimates. But, what some senior officials question is the wisdom in ignoring the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) which has all the readymade facilities on the lines of NCA Academy in Bangalore. When the BCCI is not going to subsidise any expenditure on the whole project, is there a need to construct a multi-storeyed building and a swimming pool at Gymkhana Grounds, ask many senior EC members? “Even if we buy two air-conditioned buses for transportation, the cricketers at the proposed academy (Gymkhana) can still avail these facilities at Uppal,” is their logic. It may be recalled that former test star and vice-president of HCA, Arshad Ayub, is the chairman of the academy and even visited Brisbane in this regard. There is growing resentment in the HCA itself about the method and manner in which the subject is being handled. “The EC is reduced to a status of only ratifying any decision taken on the subject by one or two individuals,” argues one EC member. “ Even recruiting process for administrative staff has begun is baffling as we have already experienced personnel at Uppal. If they go ahead with this recruitment, the HCA will incur an additional expenditure of about Rs. 15 lakh per annum on salaries alone. The process can be restricted to picking coaches and support staff and not the others,” explains one member. Interestingly, there is no budgetary sanction in the HCA for the whole project. For his part, Arshad Ayub defends the project saying that it cannot be in Uppal where all national and international cricket matches are scheduled. “There cannot be any interruption to the academy’s training programme. When we take a decision we are naïve enough to consider all aspects and then only we will go ahead keeping in view the financial constraints,” he asserted.

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