Mohammad Azharuddin elected President of Hyderabad Cricket Association

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin was on Friday elected President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA).

The lanky batsman of yesteryears polled 173 votes while his opponent Prakash Chand Jain got 73 votes. The victory marks his entry into cricket administration. The 56-year-old, who has also served as the member of parliament from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, led India to a spate of Test series wins over England, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe at home in the 1990s.

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But the former batsman fell from grace after he was implicated in the 2000 match-fixing scandal that shook the core of Indian cricket. However, the Andhra High Court had ruled that the investigation against him was not conducted properly. Azharuddin, who appeared in 99 Tests and 334 ODIs, filed his nomination for the president's post in the HCA last week.

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Earlier, the ex-Skipper's nomination was unceremoniously rejected two years ago, submitted his papers to former Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath on Wednesday. "I want to take inputs from everybody and work for promoting cricket. I want to do something for districts also (towards the growth of cricket)," Azharuddin told PTI. Vikram Man Singh, son of former cricket administrator P R Man Singh, has submitted his nomination for the vice-president's post.  Azharuddin's nomination paper for HCA president's post was rejected in 2017 by the returning officer on the grounds that he failed to produce proof of BCCI lifting the ban imposed on him for his alleged involvement in match-fixing. Election officials had also said then that there was no clarity on whether Azharuddin was an eligible voter form the club he currently represents. 

Azharuddin had earlier expressed his interest and had reiterated that he would contest for the post of president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) when elections are held. 

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