Succession plan likely to be discussed on the sidelines of BCCI AGM

A view of the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. BCCI’s 93rd Annual General Meeting will be held in Bengaluru on September 29, 2024. There were whispers about Shah’s successor have been getting louder with every passing week.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The 18-point agenda for the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) 93rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held in Bengaluru on Sunday (September 29, 2024), is as routine as the slow-moving traffic in the Garden City. But more than the AGM, the discussions in the plush hotel corridor and the new National Cricket Academy campus have been abuzz with the “succession plan”.

With Jay Shah, the incumbent BCCI secretary, set to take over as the International Cricket Council chair on December 1, whispers about Shah’s successor have been getting louder with every passing week.

With all the BCCI affiliates having congregated for the first time in three months — the last time assembled together was in June at the renovated BCCI headquarters — an informal discussion is bound to happen before and after the AGM.

While three names – that of treasurer Ashish Shelar, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal and Delhi and District Cricket Association chief Arun Jaitley – have been thrown so far, a surprise candidate from an association from west zone could spring up in the next couple of months. It is understood that the BCCI hierarchy will gauge affiliates’ response for the possibility of a relative newbie in cricket administration to be handed major responsibility.

Things, however, will start moving rapidly on the succession plan only after Shah steps down. It is likely to happen only towards the end of November, so the formal AGM will not discuss the issue.

Coming back to the agenda, Avishek Dalmiya and Dhumal are set to be elected unopposed as the members of the IPL governing council. Similarly, V Chamundeswarnath is set to be re-elected as the Indian Cricketers’ Association’ nominee in the governing council.

It will be interesting to see if the AGM decides to float invitations for any of the men’s junior selection committee posts. But it won’t be surprising if the house authorises office-bearers to finalise the cricket committees and the sub-committees.

Meanwhile, in a closed-door ceremony, the new NCA campus on the outskirts of Bengaluru was inaugurated on Saturday evening. It was followed by an exhibition cricket game among the affiliates and BCCI office-bearers.