The Indian Premier League 2025 is only a week old, but the drama has already begun.
In a shocking turn of events, one of the most sought-after franchises, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, has requested for an intervention of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the IPL Governing Council in a matter that has become a major issue.
Apparently, the SRH management has been receiving recurring blackmailing tactics, for complimentary and free match tickets by the Hyderabad Cricket Association. The state unit, however, has denied all such charges by the franchise.
Sunrisers Hyderabad manager Srinath TB in an email to the Hyderabad Cricket Association treasurer CJ Srinivas, has accused the state unit, specifically its president Jagan Mohan Rao Arshinapally of ‘intimidation, coercion and blackmailing’ for free complimentary IPL tickets.
In his mail, he also expressed that the franchise would seriously consider shifting the home matches to another state if the HCA continues to harass and threaten the franchise, and if no concrete solution is provided.
For the last 12 years, there has been an amicable working relationship between the HCA and SRH management, but it has taken a bitter turn in the last couple of years because of the complimentary tickets issue, ever since the new president took charge from October 2023 onwards.
The SRH manager, who belongs to the top echelons of SRH, said the franchise needs a clarity on the distribution of the complimentary passes to the association, which is generally pegged at 5 percent of the total number.
Srinath would claim that during SRH’s last encounter against the Lucknow Super Giants on the boxes was locked up the HCA officials.
“You locked the F3 (Corporate box) box, refusing to open it unless 20 extra free tickets were given to you. Mr. Kiran had attempted to address this issue directly with you to prevent escalation, but you still refused to open the box till one hour before the start of the game’.
We also seek clarification on the issue of complimentary tickets issued to the HCA by the franchise. The President of the HCA, Jagan Mohan Rao, along with the Treasurer/Secretary, has been consistently threatening the Sunrisers Hyderabad management, stating that he will not allow the IPL to take place in Hyderabad unless his demands are met.”
As per news publication in Deccan Hearld, a senior team official said they would consider shifting SRH’s matches to another state if the situation prevails. “This is an unacceptable abuse of power. This issue was raised last year but unfortunately, this same issue is recurring again this year’.
On the contrary, HCA president Jagan Mohan Rao has denied any such futile allegations and demands being made to the Sunrisers Hyderabad management.
“HCA did not receive any official emails from SRH management. There is no truth in the news being circulated on social media and websites’, said Rao in an official notice. He claimed such news is being circulated to tarnish HCA’s image and spread negativity to tamper the relationship with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Whether there is some truth to this act or not, will be ascertained by the BCCI only after its intervention and investigation of the entire matter.
By: Tulika Agarwal
