Courtesy: BCCI/IPL/Google
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have made a serious accusation against the President of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), Jagan Mohan Rao, of blackmailing, coercing, and threatening their staff at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. SRH, who are owned by Sun Group from Chennai, also alleged that the corporate boxes at the stadium before their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were locked for tickets at the behest of the HCA President.
As per the report from Cricbuzz, SRH have looked to have a meeting with the officials of the HCA in regards to finding a solution about the vexing issue of tickets and complimentary passes. The management of the Hyderabad-based franchise has also informed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and IPL officials about facing problems from the HCA President, but at the same time, they have thanked the other officials of the organisation for their cooperation.
HCA president Mr. Jagan Mohan Rao locked the F3 box just few hours before the start of the game: SRH
The communique from SRH, which was sent to the HCA Apex Council members in regards to the issues caused by their President, read, “It is the HCA President Mr. Jagan Mohan Rao who is resorting to threats, coercion and blackmail. Even before the IPL started, Rao threatened our staff with coercion, who in return out of fear wrote an email to him, placing on record the threat he made.”
“This is in reference to your email dated 29th March 2025. Firstly, we wish to place on record that we have no grievances against HCA's Secretary, CEO, Treasurer or other office bearers of HCA. In fact, we would like to thank them for their cooperation,” it further read.
After that, SRH brought the attention to the corporate box allotted to LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka, which was locked by HCA President Jagan Mohan Rao. He said, “Without waiting for a resolution, the HCA president Mr. Jagan Mohan Rao locked the F3 box just few hours before the start of the game, knowing very well that this box was given to the owner of Lucknow SuperGiants, Mr. Goenka. This was done just to blackmail us and put coercive pressure on us to give additional 20 complimentary tickets before the game.”
