Six Hyderabad cricketers join ICL, skip Buchi Babu tournament

Hyderabad, Aug 16 (UNI) Top six cricketers from Hyderabad have joined the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), giving a big blow to the Hyderabad cricket team participating in the All India Buchi Babu Cricket tournament, beginning in Chennai from today.

Former India under-19 skipper A T Rayudu, middle order batsmen Anirudh Singh, D Vinay Kumar, wicket keeper-batsman Ibrahim Khaleel, medium pacer Kaushik Reddy and promising left arm spinner Inder Sekhar Reddy were reportedly offered Rs 90 lakhs for signing for three seasons.

The Hyderabad Cricket Association immediately sent five replacements to Chennai last night -- second string players T Suman, Santosh Yadav, Ronald Rodriques, Abhinav Kumar and Lalit Mohan.

This is the first blow for any BCCI-affiliated State cricket association as no player from any other association had joined the ICL. With the absense of its main players, Hyderabad's chances of putting up a good performance in the Buchi Babu Cricket tournament had received a severe setback.

The Buchi Babu All India invitation cricket tournament, which would conclude on September three, featured prominent sides like Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Punjab, Hyderabad, Baroda and Rajasthan. Besides, an Australian Academy team from the Centre of Excellence would also be taking part.

UNI