Sunrisers Hyderabad reconsiders hosting IPL matches in Hyderabad amid ‘blackmail for free tickets’ by HCA

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has allegedly sent an email to the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), accusing its officials, particularly president A Jagan Mohan Rao, of intimidation, coercion and blackmail for free IPL tickets.

According to a report published by the Times of India, the SRH said in the alleged mail that it is being forced to reconsider holding their IPL matches at their home stadium, the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGIC) in Uppal, here.

What is the controversy between SRH and HCA?

As per the IPL-2025 schedule, RGIC in Uppal is all set to host nine matches this season. So far, the home team SRH has played their two matches against the Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants on March 23 and 27.

The row began when HCA representatives withheld access to a viewing box at the stadium on the day of the SRH-LSG match on March 27 (Thursday).

The SRH management has sent an email to HCA in which they made it clear that they would not tolerate such behaviour by the HCA.

“HCA’s unprofessional threats and actions, particularly those of its president, make it clear that you do not want the Sunrisers to play at your stadium. If that is the case, please notify me in writing so that we may notify the BCCI, the Telangana government and our management that you want us to transfer to another location, and we will do so,” SRH general manager Srinath TB said in an email sent to HCA treasurer CJ Srinivas Rao.

In the email, Srinath also stated that they have worked with HCA for 12 years, and the recurring issues and harassment from HCA began last season.

‘Access to box locked over 20 tickets’

“For several years, HCA has been given 50 complimentary tickets (F12A box) as part of the 3,900 free tickets. However, this year, they claim that the box has a capacity of only 30 and request an additional 20 complimentary tickets in another box. When this was brought to our attention, we advised them that we would consider it and find a mutually acceptable solution,” the email said.

The SRH general manager also said that they pay the appropriate rent for the stadium, and during the tenure of the IPL, the stadium is under their jurisdiction. However, the HCA refused to unlock the F3 box in the last game unless they were given twenty additional free tickets.

“This lack of professionalism fosters a hostile climate, which makes collaboration more challenging," Srinath said in the email.

“We also want to emphasise that over the past two years, HCA has intimidated, threatened and coerced our employees in similar ways. It was brought to HCA’s attention that the president of HCA had threatened them numerous times this year,” Srinath said in his mail to the HCA.

Proposal to give 10% of tickets

The SRH GM proposed that the agreement be followed as a workaround.

“Given the constant threats, coercion and blackmailing by HCA, we suggest that we go as per the signed agreement between us, as per which we will allocate 10 per cent of complimentary tickets across each stand,” Srinath said, and added that in light of these developments, they formally request a meeting with the apex council members at the earliest convenience to discuss and resolve this matter.

HCA denies it got any mail from SRH

However, the office of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president denied all the allegations circulating in the social media and vernacular media. In a statement issued on Sunday, the HCA officials said that they did not receive any official emails from the SRH management.

“There is no truth in the news being circulated on social media and some websites. If emails are indeed received, what is the conspiracy behind leaking that information from unknown emails instead of HCA or SRH official emails? This is a malicious campaign by some people to tarnish the reputation of HCA-SRH. Are these emails fake or real? To know this, the media should also take a clear explanation from SRH,” the HCA officials said.