One among the SENA cricket boards was Mr. Shah’s proposer and another one of these countries seconded the nomination. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Jay Shah, the incumbent secretary of the Board of Cricket for Cricket in India (BCCI), is set to become the youngest chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
He will take over from New Zealand’s Greg Barclay on December 1.
An ICC statement confirmed that Mr. Shah was the only name proposed on Tuesday (August 27, 2024), the deadline for each of the 16 ICC Board of Directors to nominate their preferred candidate.
With Mr. Shah being the lone candidate in the fray, he will be elected unopposed and will take over from Barclay, who will step down in November.
“We stand at a critical juncture where it is increasingly important to balance the coexistence of multiple formats, promote the adoption of advanced technologies, and introduce our marquee events to new global markets,” said Mr. Shah in the media release. “Our goal is to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before.”
August club
Mr. Shah, 35, will thus join an August club of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N. Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar in the list of Indians who have headed the game’s governing body.
Jay Shah’s elevation from the post of the BCCI secretary and ICC Director to the ICC Chair was a mere formality once Barclay announced his decision last week to not seek an extension.
Mr. Shah has been involved in cricket administration for a decade. Having served as the joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association, he was elected unopposed as the BCCI secretary in October 2019. Since 2021, he has also been serving as the Asian Cricket Council chairperson.
With the ICC rules prescribing an Independent Chair, Mr. Shah will have to give up his other posts. It will be interesting to see his successor as the BCCI secretary.
