Cutting through red tape: Inside Ambati Rayudu’s mission to fix cricket in Hyderabad

Hyderabad cricket has heard many speeches but few have come with a tractor.

In the six months since Ambati Rayudu promised to change the culture, the former India batsman has been spotted at dawn on the side of the pitch, at the door of a soil dealer in the rain, five to seven kilos lighter by his own estimation.

Early results indicate that the effort is paying off. The first phase of this Ranji Trophy season ended with Hyderabad winning three matches and drawing one, which was enough for them to top the elite Group B table with 20 points. The satisfaction is evident, from the players to the coaches.

Rayudu, director of cricket operations at the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), shares the satisfaction but remains wary of premature celebrations. He is more proud of the systems in place.

“I wouldn’t read too much into the results yet, but I am very happy with how the systems are set up. Most importantly, the boys are very confident and happy to have something to look forward to,” he told The Hindu.

It’s a far cry from May 5, when he walked into the camera room and vowed to take Hyderabad cricket to the next level. Many people in these corridors promised something similar. What followed, according to Rayudu, was quieter than the announcement: the right fundamentals every day.

First he filled the calendar. Hyderabad’s age groups now play far more matches than the league requires, with almost a thousand match days scheduled this season. Thus his own generation grew up.

“When they wake up, if they don’t have a game, they have to worry, ‘What am I going to do today?’ We wanted to bring that feeling back.”

The arrival of Wasim Jaffer as a mentor reinforced this change and helped build a culture of cricket among players and coaches alike. Open trials now allow county players to enter the Gymkhana to compete for a state cap.

From the basics to the selection room, no corner of the system escaped re-evaluation.

“The first point on our agenda in selecting the selectors was: Do they have the required integrity? Because other than that, we’ll take care of whatever comes. And because they come with that integrity, they’re also quite adamant and stubborn in their decision-making. That’s a welcome sign because we don’t want them to be yes-men. And they’ve done a fantastic job, so no complaints at all. Everyone else has no credit, no one else (Heddy) picking teams.”

His Cricket Operations Committee (COC) intervened only when it came to selecting the team management.

Every selection and omission is recorded on a signed sheet and deposited with the Single Membership Committee (SMC), headed by former Justice P. Naveen Rao along with Jeevan and the COC.

“The charts contain all the details of why a player was selected. If there is any problem, everything can be checked. It’s a way to prevent any bad calls. It’s like a decision review system (DRS) that helps us avoid mistakes. If something comes up in the future, there’s always documentation, which also helps us collect data over a few years about what could be better.”

Digging in

In terms of cricket development, Hyderabad’s flat tracks were hardly the first choice. Nor were the Rayudu’s. With the return of international matches to the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, home hosting duties were restricted to the iconic Gymkhana ground in Secunderabad.

Rayudu had ideas, but first he had to contend with a few expected obstacles.

“There were so many concerns. Sometimes funds were not released. Tenders were not opened.”

While the system dragged its feet, Rayudu and chief curator Mukesh Kumar did not. Their priority was to find the right land for the redevelopment of the playgrounds.

They waited for vendors who disappeared when the rains came, paid extra for earthmoving equipment, and chased workers who never showed up. When no tractors could enter the city, Rayudu arranged his own.

“When it all came down, sometimes we couldn’t find work. Among other things, there were no tractors coming into town. So I brought my own tractor and a man who works on my farm. He’s the one who made all the banks you see in Gymkhana now.”

Land selection was equally challenging and involved morning trips to neighboring counties.

“We put in three types of soil. Even the mixed soil used is a natural mixture. The soil near Vikarabad is naturally mixed with red and black, so that’s one of the soils we’ve picked up. There’s also a black soil pitch, which is a proper screed track that I’m sure will come in handy in the future.”

His yardstick comes from seven seasons at Motibaug with Baroda. A good Ranji Trophy pitch, he explained, should allow teams to bat around 90 overs while keeping all four innings alive. The lot should not determine the outcome.

The progress was hardly without resistance. Short deadlines, uncooperative bureaucracies, and funding problems came and went, but the COC persevered. On the pitch, the promotion of local league artists for places in the newly introduced Super League has drawn criticism from those used to doing things differently.

Rayudu shrugged off the risk.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen? Everyone would sign a petition to remove us! But by the time that happens, we’d have done a lot of good work.”

Rayudu now looks back on a productive start with satisfaction.

“It was a crazy experience but we didn’t stop at anyone. It’s not just me. Even Wasim bhai, Mukesh and COC members PS Niranjan and MP Arjun put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to make it all happen. It was challenging and stressful but for the first time in the history of HCA I think good is winning over evil.”

Systems that last

The next phase of the overhaul will move beyond Gymkhana. Academies have been planned at Mahabubnagar and Karimnagar, along with a high-performance center at Uppal, which is likely to be run by an external body under a public-private partnership model. Rayudu is hopeful that work will begin within a month or two. HCA-led teams can also enter various league divisions, giving players identified through open tryouts a competitive platform.

Women’s cricket will follow.

“We didn’t have time to go into women’s cricket this season,” admitted Rayudu, adding, “It’s only a matter of time before everything follows in women’s cricket. SMC and even Jeevan are very keen to do everything in the women’s game as well.”

Less than a decade ago, Rayudu took to social media to criticize the way the HCA was operating without trying to mince his words. He admitted that he never imagined he would be the one to bring about the change he had wanted to see for so long.

“I thought there was no hope left. But as they say in India, justice is always delayed but never denied. I wouldn’t say things are perfect now, not at all. It’s still a long way from here, but the processes are being set up, there are a lot of systems and protocols that have been put in place. Eventually, at the end of the season, there will be a settlement and we’ll do a lot of paperwork on all the systems if it’s followed. In the future.”

Rayudu, whose ambition is to see HCA among the top five Indian associations in both administration and cricket, said he is taking things one year at a time. Throughout his tenure, he had the support of SMC and Jeevan, which he repeatedly credits for what he was able to achieve in the initial months.

“I thought I would give my all to Hyderabad cricket for a year. I wanted to sacrifice a year to Hyderabad, which has done so much for me in terms of my cricket career. Apart from that, I want to set up systems and protocols. The main thing is that SMC has to be there for at least two or three years. That is very, very important with these systems, and even I should be there. Whether I am there or not, everything will go very well.”

It has been ten years since Hyderabad last knocked out the Ranji Trophy. The team has even experienced life in the Plate division since then. Three wins in four games is a promising start, but little more. Rayudu and his team headed for Everest. For now, the first steps are encouraging.