Undeterred by the BCCI's threat of imposing bans and withdrawing financial benefits,
seven Hyderabad Ranji Trophy players today announced their intention to join the
Indian Cricket League, giving a further boost to the rebel series.
The 21-year-old Ambatti Rayudu, who is seen to be a promising prospect,
was among the seven players who have decided to align with the Subhash Chandra-owned
Essel Group's parallel venture.
After signing several retired players in the past few weeks,
this is the first time that current Ranji Trophy players have been decided to
sign for the proposed Twenty20 tournament to be held in October.
President of Hyderabad Cricket Association G Vinod described
the development as "very embarrassing" and said it would no doubt
weaken the Hyderabad Ranji team.
"Seven of our players walking out will weaken the Hyderabad
team but we will try and recruit fresh talent," he said.
Apart from Rayudu, Vinay Kumar, Ibrahim Khalil, I S Reddy,
Anirudh Singh, Kaushik Reddy and Shashank Nag were the other players to walk
out of the team.
Vinod said the association will wait for the BCCI to take a
decision on the fate of the players at its Annual General Meeting in Mumbai
on August 21.
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