Telangana's Minister for Industry and Information Technology, K.T. Rama Rao, on Sunday appealed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) office-bearers to include Hyderabad as one of the venues for the upcoming IPL season.
"Our effective Covid containment measures are reflected in our low number of cases among all metro cities in India and we assure you of all support from the government," the minister tweeted.
KTR's appeal comes in the wake of reports that Hyderabad is not in the list of cities shortlisted by the BCCI for the 14th edition of IPL.
The BCCI has reportedly decided to limit IPL 2021 to only six cities. Hyderabad, the host city of Sunrisers Hyderabad, does not figure in the list.
The BCCI has shortlisted Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai to conduct IPL matches. The choice of Mumbai was surprising as there has been a surge in Covid cases in Maharashtra during the last few days.
Mumbai was added to the list on Saturday evening after the Maharashtra government gave permission to conduct the matches in the city without fans.
The reasons for dropping Hyderabad were not clear but there is a buzz in cricketing circles here that the infighting in Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) may have led to the BCCI ignoring the city.
Reacting to KTR's appeal, some netizens urged him to first sort out the problems in HCA.
HCA president and former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin was reportedly in Ahmedabad for the third India-England Test where the decision was taken regarding the IPL venues.
Six members of the HCA Apex Council last week raised a banner of revolt against Azharuddin by holding a meeting and deciding to organise the annual general meeting (AGM) on March 28. Azharuddin has termed the meeting illegal, saying that it had no approval.
