Andhra Bank — a rich tradition in HCA, now crying for attention

HYDERABAD: Though the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has over 200 teams in its league, only a few can boast of the erstwhile Andhra Bank team’s glories.

Andhra Bank, now fighting for a place in the HCA league, came into existence in the 1971-72 season due to the efforts of the late N Sriramachandra Murthy and the

late CS Sham Lal

. The bank officials were so taken in by the enthusiasm of the duo that they recruited Test player Kenia Jayantilal and Ranji Trophy players like Abdul Hai, D Inder Raj, D Meher Baba and Mallick Dev among others.

Andhra Bank was allowed to play in the A Division as an Institution team and proved to be a force immediately. “In the first year itself, the team finished runners-up in the senior division,” former pacer P Jyothi Prasad told ToI on Wednesday.

This led Sham Lal to plan a trip to Sri Lanka in 1974 and it proved to be a path-breaking tour as the players gained experience. It began to show in their performance in the HCA league. Under the leadership of the late T Vijaya Paul, Andhra Bank not only won the league championship but also completed a Grand Slam.

“It was a jolly good ride for us as we kept winning tournaments. From 1974 to 1978 we won the League, Behram-ud-Dowla, Kishen Pershad and Ghulam Ali tournaments. It was a marvellous achievement and credit to the late Vijaya Paul, who astutely led the team along with MV Narasimha Rao,” Prasad said.

So strong was Andhra Bank team that seven of its players were included in the South Zone team to take on England in 1977!

The golden run continued till 2008 as Andhra Bank played the feeder role by producing players not only for Andhra and Hyderabad but also for the country. “We had several players who did exceedingly well not only for Hyderabad but also Andhra Ranji teams till recently,’’ Prasad said.

Players like Jayantilal, Narasimha Rao,

SL Venkatapathi Raju

, VVS Laxman, Pragyan Ojha and GH Vihari went on to play for the country. Inder Raj and Jyothi Prasad played for the India junior team and off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh was an India ‘A’ player. This apart, the bank has produced more than 50 first-class cricketers in its almost 50-year history.

“It is sad the way the officials have treated the Andhra Bank team,” said former wicketkeeper Prasanna Kumar, who represented AB and Andhra in Ranji Trophy.

“Despite having good teams like Hyderabad Blues, Syndicate Bank, State Bank of India and State Bank of Hyderabad, Andhra Bank was the big daddy of all. Almost every youngster aspired to don the Andhra Bank jersey,” said Kanwaljit.