IPL 2025’s biggest controversy has broken out with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) team management and the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) exchanging serious allegations over tickets and threats. What began as a disagreement over complimentary passes has now snowballed into a major issue, prompting Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to step in and order a formal inquiry. Senior IPS officer K. Srinivas Reddy, who heads the Vigilance and Enforcement Department, will lead the probe.
The SRH management has accused HCA president A. Jagan Mohan Rao of blackmailing and threatening their staff. According to the SRH, Rao demanded tickets, both complimentary and purchasable, for personal use and even locked up a corporate box, just hours before their match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on March 27.
The F3 box, SRH say, was reserved for LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka, but was locked to force the team to hand over 20 extra complimentary tickets. The franchise claims they had already provided the agreed 3,900 free passes to the HCA and any further demands were unfair. The team also pointed out that the stadium’s upkeep including painting, AC installation and washroom repairs were funded by them and not the HCA, and accused the latter of publicly stealing credit for it.
HCA, in a lengthy rebuttal, denied all allegations of blackmail and coercion. The HCA contradicted the SRH claim and said that the association paid for some of the upgradation of stadium infrastructure and are yet to receive reimbursement from the SRH. It said the SRH had issued 3,880 and not 3,900 complimentary tickets as is being claimed and the remaining balance cannot be seen as an unjust demand since it was agreed upon by both the parties in their previous meetings. However, the flashpoint was due to the stalemate related to the tickets meant for various clubs under HCA. According to the association, 2,500 tickets had to be issued by SRH through multiple windows for purchase by clubs but since SRH officials were unresponsive on this issue and others, they had no choice but to lock the corporate box and prevail upon the SRH to act.
SRH claim that they conveyed that they can only issue 2,000 tickets and that too through multiple links to prevent any black marketing of tickets. The Sunrisers, in their communication to BCCI and IPL governing body, have also threatened to relocate from Hyderabad if the issue persists and also appealed for CMO (Chief Ministers Office)’s intervention since the issue pertains to the interests of the cricket fans from the state. The SRH have argued that the fans would be denied tickets if a good percentage of it goes to the association and clubs.
