‘They wanted me to run the Hyderabad Cricket Association the way they wanted to’: Azharuddin hits out at detractors

Mohammad Azharuddin on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court decision to appoint a one-man committee to oversee the election process in the cricket body. “The court has taken the right decision by appointing Justice (retd) L Nageswara Rao as it will be good for HCA. But I cannot understand why these people (opponents) are happy? I have done nothing wrong. In fact, these people should now be worried. They will be under scrutiny as they are the ones facing corruption charges,” Azhar told ToI. Stung by the remarks against him, Azhar hit back at former HCA office-bearers N Shivlal Yadav, Arshad Ayub, G Vinod, and K John Manoj, among others. “What they have done all these years everyone knows. Shivlal, Arshad and Vinod cannot come into the association or the board as they have finished their terms. What have these people done for Hyderabad cricket? Am I involved in the ACB cases? Have I done anything wrong in the association? I have only tried my best to clear up the mess created by these gentlemen,” he said. “The only thing Shivlal has done is to build the stadium but it is still not complete. I had to correct so many things to ensure that we got international matches. If I were not there, we would not have any matches. I have used my personal goodwill and got the games to Hyderabad. In fact, we got two matches in four months. The board is giving money to the association, just because of me. If I speak to the board officials, HCA will not get any matches,” he said and added, “The board will not release funds if they are not satisfied with the accounts.”

“These people are power hungry and because they are out of power, they are troubling the association. The apex council members created problems for themselves. How can they