Ambati Rayudu leads overhaul of Hyderabad cricket as Ranji phase ends with team top of Elite Group B
Since May 5, Ambati Rayudu, Director of Cricket Operations at the Hyderabad Cricket Association, has been leading an overhaul of Hyderabad cricket; by November 13, 2026 the first phase of this Ranji Trophy season had concluded with Hyderabad on top of Elite Group B with 20 points after three wins and one draw. Rayudu has expressed satisfaction with the early results while warning against premature celebration.
Rayudu has been highly visible during the push—seen pitch-side at dawn, visiting soil suppliers in the rain and, by his own account, five to seven kilos lighter—and says his focus has been on getting fundamentals right every day. He has expanded the calendar for age-group teams, scheduling close to a thousand match days this season to increase playing opportunities. “When they wake up, if they don’t have a game, they need to be worried: ‘What am I going to do today?’ We wanted to get that feeling back,” he said.
Wasim Jaffer has joined the set-up as a mentor and open trials now allow district players to enter Gymkhana and vie for state selection, part of a wider rethink from grassroots to the selection room. Rayudu emphasised selection integrity when appointing selectors: “The first point on our agenda while picking selectors was: Do they have the integrity required? Because beyond that, we will take care of whatever comes. And because they come with such integrity, they are quite adamant and stubborn in their decision making as well. That is a welcome sign because we don’t want them to be yes-men. And they have done a fantastic job, so no complaints at all. All due credit to Jeevan Reddy (HCA secretary) or anybody else, they have never questioned the team selections.”
Every selection and omission is being recorded on a signed sheet and filed with the Single Member Committee (SMC), headed by retired Justice P. Naveen Rao, along with Jeevan and the Cricket Operations Committee (COC), and Rayudu likens the process to a review mechanism. “The sheets have all the details about why a player was selected. In case any issue comes up, everything can be checked. It’s a way to avert any bad calls. It’s just like a Decision Review System (DRS), which helps us avoid blunders. If something comes up in the future, there is always documentation, which over a few years also helps us gather data on what could have been better.”
Work on playing surfaces at Gymkhana became a priority after domestic hosting was limited there, and Rayudu and head curator Mukesh Kumar pushed to source appropriate soil despite administrative hurdles. “There were so many apprehensions. Funds weren’t getting released sometimes. Tenders were not being opened.” When labour and equipment did not arrive, Rayudu said he provided personal resources: “Once everything came to the ground, we did not get labour sometimes. There were no tractors that were coming into the city, among other issues. So I brought my own tractor and the person who works on my farm. He is the one who has done all the banks that you see in Gymkhana now.”
On the composition of the wickets Rayudu described a deliberate approach: “We’ve put in three types of soil. Even the mixed soil used is a natural mix. The soil near Vikarabad naturally gets mixed with red and black, so that is one of the soils that we picked up. There’s also a black soil pitch which is a proper seaming track which, I am sure, will come in handy in the future.” He cited his time at Motibaug with Baroda as a benchmark and said a good Ranji Trophy pitch should allow teams to bat for around 90 overs while keeping all four innings alive, so the toss does not decide a match.
The programme has faced criticism over timing, bureaucracy and selection choices, especially the decision to back local league performers for the new Super League, but Rayudu has defended the approach. “What is the worst thing that can happen? They would have all signed a petition to remove us! But by the time that happens, we would have already done a lot of good work.” He also credited colleagues for the effort: “It was a crazy experience, but we were not going to stop for anybody. It’s not just me. Even Wasim bhai, Mukesh and COC members P.S. Niranjan and M.P. Arjun, they have put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to make all this happen. It’s been a painstaking and stressful one, but for the first time in HCA’s history, I think good is winning over evil.”
Rayudu outlined further steps including academies planned in Mahabubnagar and Karimnagar and a high-performance centre at Uppal, possibly run under a public-private partnership, with work hoped to start within a month or two; HCA-run teams may enter different league divisions to provide competitive platforms for players identified through open trials. He acknowledged women’s cricket was not addressed this season: “We didn’t have time to go into women’s cricket this season,” Rayudu admitted, adding, “It’s just a matter of time that everything will follow in women’s cricket as well. SMC and even Jeevan are very eager to get everything done in the women’s game as well.” He has committed one year personally to the project and stressed institutional continuity: “I told myself that I’ll give everything to Hyderabad cricket for a year. I wanted to sacrifice a year for Hyderabad, which has done so much for me in terms of my cricketing career. Beyond this, I want to set up systems and protocols. The main thing is that SMC needs to be there for at least two or three years. That is very, very important, and along with him Jeevan should be around. I think with them and with these systems, even if I am there or not, it will all run very well.”
Hyderabad have not reached the Ranji Trophy knockouts for a decade and have spent time in the Plate division; three wins and a draw in four matches constitutes an encouraging start but Rayudu emphasised process over short-term results and said: “Eventually at the end of the season we will release a document on the systems and processes. Once it all gets ratified and if followed, a lot of good will happen in the future.”
