HCA rejects allegations of ticket requests from president, seeks talks with Sunrisers Hyderabad to clear issues

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) on Monday made it clear that its president A Jagan Mohan Rao did not make any personal request to block 3,900 tickets for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s matches during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal here.

On Sunday, SRH requested the intervention of the BCCI and the IPL governing council to end HCA’s repeating ‘blackmailing tactics,’ but the State cricketing body disputed all such claims made by the franchise. In an email to the governing body’s top brass, SRH stated that if the HCA continues to ‘threaten’ the franchise, especially for more complimentary tickets (free passes), it will consider transferring the home matches to another state.

“The apex council clarified that Jagan Mohan Rao did not make any personal request to block 3,900 tickets per match for his purchase and reiterates the discussions held on February 19, wherein the HCA president requested on behalf of the apex council’s proposal to provide the tickets to the club secretaries. It is unfair on your part to make incorrect insinuations against the president of HCA. Providing direct individual payment links to the club secretaries to purchase tickets will not lead to any suspicion regarding the purchase of the tickets,” the HCA officials said in a press statement.

HCA president will not be attending talks with SRH

To ‘resolve all pending issues,’ Jagan Mohan Rao has chosen not to attend the talks with Sunrisers Hyderabad scheduled for this IPL Season 2025.

This was mentioned in a letter that the HCA sent to a senior official of Sunrisers Hyderabad following the controversy surrounding the free tickets for the current IPL matches and the HCA’s alleged blackmail in this regard. The letter was interestingly circulated to the media without mentioning any apex council members.

“We would like to notify you that the HCA president has consented to abstain from attending the meetings with HCA officials scheduled for this IPL Season 2025. We want all SRH officials to come forward with an open mind to fully resolve any lingering concerns,” HCA stated in the letter.

“We hope and trust that the SRH officials will forward a suitable early date for an early meeting and resolution, avoiding the needless exchange of emails,” the statement read.

‘Box was locked only due to SRH officials’

“Be advised that the F-3 Box was locked due only to the SRH officials’ inaction or disinterest. After the aforementioned officials met, the situation was settled in a matter of minutes, and the box was opened a couple of hours before the start of the match. As a result, please do not interpret this conduct as extortion or coercive pressure to provide 20 complimentary tickets before the match,” the HCA stated.

“We leave it to your wisdom to decide whether non-resolutions of the issues, failing to respond to messages or sit for a meeting and resolve the issue is professionalism or compelling the HCA or leaving HCA with no other option to make the officials of SRH attend for a meeting for resolutions can be called as unprofessionalism,” stated HCA in the statement.