Azharuddin to sue HCA bosses

Hyderabad: Former captain of the Indian cricket team, Mohammed Azharuddin, said on Saturday that he would take legal action against officials of the Hyderabad Cricket Association who he said did not allow him to contest the club elections.

Speaking to media persons, Azharuddin said: “I am trying to take legal criminal action against those people who did not allow me to contest the election, including ad-hoc committee chairman Prakash Jain.”

Azha displayed a letter from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which said that he was eligible to hold a position in the ICC, the BCCI, or its affiliated associations.

He said despite this letter from cricket's governing body, granting him permission to participate in the HCA elections, he was not allowed to do so, “which is a blatant violation of my fundamental rights.”

He said he was the vice-president of the National Cricket Club. “When the Special General Meeting was announced, HCA secretary Shesh Narayan issued my card on January 3. How would I know he would be suspended on January 5? So, I had the card, he gave me this letter to be a part of SGM when he was in office,“ he said.

“BCCI has recognised me. I have been felicitated. If I was banned, I would not have been sitting there (at the felicitation). I have been felicitated by the BCCI even when I was serving the ban in 2005, by Sharad Pawar (the then BCCI chief),“ he said.

Azharuddin said that he has written to the BCCI and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) on the issue. “I think they need to take action. Whatever they (HCA) are doing is totally illegal,” he said.

Clarifying his association with the Telangana Cricket Association (TCA), Azharuddin said, “I am brand ambassador for a private league being held by a TRS member. I have nothing to do with TCA.”

He called the Telangana T-20 League illegal. “You cannot associate any person’s name with the league. You have to have a separate governing council and they have to pass it.”