Moin-ud-Dowlah begins in Hyderabad today
How things can change and that too suffer an unpardonable fall from the romance of the glory days to condemnably pitiable standards.Veteran cricketers and those past their prime will certainly get a nauseating feeling when they get to understand the format that is to be experimented with the conduct of what was easily once the crème de la crème of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).
Hyderabad: How things can change and that too suffer an unpardonable fall from the romance of the glory days to condemnably pitiable standards.Veteran cricketers and those past their prime will certainly get a nauseating feeling when they get to understand the format that is to be experimented with the conduct of what was easily once the crème de la crème of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).
To the old-timer, the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup cricket tournament, which gets underway here on Tuesday, will seem like a mockery of the legend that the premier domestic event was.
From an eagerly looked forward engagement that drew the best of national and international players, decades ago, the sorry state-of-affairs is such that title contenders like Karnataka, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu are giving a miss, this time around.
As things stand, the ODI-inspired round-robin All India Coromandel King Moin Ud Dowlah Gold Cup Invitation tournament features ten outfits, none of which boast of crowd pullers, worth the name.
Apart from locally knit contenders like HCA XI, HCA President’s XI and Combined Districts XI, the outstation entries include Baroda, Vidarbha, Kerala, Goa, Andhra Colts, Air India and CAG. However, India discards like Suresh Raina will cash in on the situation. Notwithstanding the down-sizing and lack of big-names, G Vivekananda, President of HCA, was noticeably optimistic.
“We will strive to revive the memorable days of the past where in players of eminence like Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath turned up,” Vivekananda, told reporters here on Monday. He also pointed out that from the next edition onwards, the three-day format would be brought back.
Ironically, he will be inaugurating the championship, which concludes on August 22.HCA Secretary T Seshnarayan, Fakruddin and Nikhatunnisa, grandchildren of Moin-ud-Dowlah, were also present on the occasion.Tuesday fixtures: HCA XI vs Andhra Colts (ECIL), Goa vs Vidarbha CA (AOC); HCA President’s XI vs Kerala CA (Gymkhana); Baroda CA vs Combined Districts XI (NFC).
