Jay Shah has been elected as the next chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), replacing Greg Barclay, who decided not to continue for his third term.
Jay Shah has been elected as the next chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), replacing Greg Barclay, who decided not to continue for his third term. Jay was elected unopposed, with no other candidate contesting for the role, making him the youngest ICC chairman ever.
Previously, he was the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), elected in October 2019. Shah was also the chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) since January 2021, holding both positions simultaneously.
He will take over as ICC chairman from December 1. In the statement released by the ICC website, Shah expressed his willingness to work on popularising the sport and adopting modern technologies by promoting them.
“I am humbled by the nomination as the Chair of the International Cricket Council. I am committed to working closely with the ICC team and our member nations to further globalize cricket. 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. Our goal is to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before.”
Jay Shah’s appointment as ICC chair is a well-planned move and can be termed “strategic”. The first thing to note is that his tenure as BCCI secretary would have ended next year in 2025.
That means Shah would have to undergo a three-year cooling period before re-applying for the role according to the guidelines approved by the Supreme Court. Hence, the wise move was to leave the BCCI chair a year early and move to the ICC chair.
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Since he is leaving as BCCI secretary with a year to go, Jay Shah can return in 2028 with an extra year to hold the position. That means he can remain in that position for seven years if and when he re-applies for the BCCI secretary post.
It is a win-win situation for Shah. During his first tenure as ICC Chair, he will serve the cooling period of three years and also come back with an additional year in hand.
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