Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin has vehemently struck back at the apex council of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) who have sent him a show-cause notice, and also “suspended” him as the President of the board for alleged violation of its constitution and conflicts of interest.
The notice stated that Mohammad Azharuddin had not disclosed that he mentored a T10 team, by the name of Northern Warriors, in Dubai, in a T10 cricket tournament that is unrecognized by the BCCI.
Mohammad Azharuddin, however, slammed the apex council and saying that such news is “bogus” and “illegal” on their part, pointing out that he is elected by the general body, and only the general body of a state unit has the powers to suspend a sitting president and not the apex council.
“I want to tell you something, I am an elected person. Four to five people cannot remove me as a president as I’m elected by the general body. This is all bogus news. This is all illegal,” Mohammad Azharuddin told ANI.
“When they are already charged and under the scanner, how could they charge me? They go to court every day, not me. I didn’t do any misconduct; they are doing misconduct. As they say, empty vessels make more noise; that’s the case with them; the vessels have become empty. I am being targeted for doing good things for the association. I don’t want to do anything illegal, and I just want to do what’s good for the game of cricket.”
“I am going to start a T20 tournament for all 200-plus clubs, and from those who will play the tournament, they might play for India in the future. Those people are only interested in clubs and not in cricket”
I call this a false narrative, I did not stoop down to such low levels: Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin, who represented India in 99 Tests and 334 ODIs and captained the side to immense success in the ’90s, terms this fiasco as a “false narrative” against him by some of the board members. He targets K John Manoj, a well-known coach. and other members of the so-called “apex council”.
“I call this a false narrative because it is indeed false and slanderous. I did not stoop down to such low levels because I always strived to maintain the dignity of the office.
“If five members – John Manoj, Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal and Smt. Anuradha gang up and call themselves ‘APEX Council’; by what sense of interpretation is it justified? I call it belligerent posturing with scant regard for the rule of law,” the 58-year-old former batsman further stated.
