The former secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jay Shah, created history on December 01, when he was officially appointed as the youngest person to take over the role of the chairperson of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with the end of the tenure of Greg Barclay.
This has led Jay Shah to leave his old post of the BCCI secretary, which he has held since 2021. Having been in the chair for a long time, the veteran has done an incredible job with the introduction of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), the increment of the fee structure for the players for playing the Test matches, or the proposal to push them for playing domestic games regularly if they are not on national duties. The success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is also parallel to the same prospect.
But now the need of the hour is the replacement of Jay Shah in the apex Indian cricketing body, who is yet to announce the new person, and now looks to be a disorder to find the right person after Shah’s exit. The current reports of the news agency PTI have claimed that the BCCI is a bit clueless as to who would be the person to replace the veteran as the new BCCI secretary.
BCCI yet to find replacement of Jay Shah
There are a few names, who have raised in the likes of the BCCI joint secretary, Devjit Saikia. The joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association, Anil Patel, is also in the mix, but there is no clear indication as to who will sit in the most powerful chair of the Indian cricket board, eventually.
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“We don’t know what is happening. Everyone (BCCI officials and state units) is quiet on the matter. Most likely, the joint secretary (Saikia) will be interim for the time being. Some issues need to be dealt with on a day-to-day basis, and anyone who comes in needs to have a bit of knowledge on how the BCCI is run.” One of the BCCI office-bearers expressed to the PTI, as quoted by the Times Now.
The rules of the BCCI have noted that a replacement of any office bearer can be declared within 45 days of the individual’s resignation after the General Body meeting. This means that to find a replacement for Jay Shah, the BCCI still has a deadline of January 15.
A senior member of the BCCI stated that the replacement should have taken place by now, but the matter wasn’t rolled on in the last Annual General Meeting, which took place in September.
“Transition should have been complete by now. The secretary has to sign the majority of documents. This matter should have been taken up at the AGM (in September), but nobody questioned at that time.” The news agency informed.
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On the other hand, Jay Shah has become the fifth Indian to sit as the ICC chairman after Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N Srinivasan, and Shashank Manohar. He is looking forward to the LA28 Olympics to make the game more popular and inclusive.
“This is an exciting time for the sport as we build up to the LA28 Olympic Games and strive to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before. We also stand at a critical juncture in terms of the coexistence of multiple formats and accelerating the growth of the women’s game.” Jay Shah addressed this in a statement.