According to various sources on the Internet, Jay Shah will be ascending to the role of the ICC Chairman in the near future. The current ICC Chairman Greg Barclays will be stepping down from the post after 4 years as the ICC Head and won’t be standing in office for a third term. According to reports, he has taken this decision after learning about Jay Shah’s decision to replace him in November 2024.
An ICC Spokesperson has told The Age, “ICC chair Greg Barclay confirmed to the board that he will not stand for a third term and will step down from the post when his current tenure finishes at the end of November. Barclay was appointed as the independent ICC chair in November 2020, before being re-elected in 2022.”
It is believed that Jay Shah has the goodwill of the majority of those who will be concerned with the ICC Chairman voting come end of the year. Candidates are required to put in their nominations before August 27th, after which if there are multiple candidates, there is a voting procedure where a majority vote of 51% is needed for the Chairman to get elected. There are a maximum of 16 votes, hence, winning 9 votes is considered a majority vote and it is believed that Jay Shah will have that numerical backing come November.
If elected, Jay Shah will become only the 5th Indian to hold office as an ICC Chairman following in the footsteps of Jagmohan Dalmiya (1997 to 2000), Sharad Pawar (2010-2012) …as presidents… and N Srinivasan (2014 to 2015) and Shashank Manohar (2015 to 2020) … as chairmen…
On top of this, at just 35 years of age, Jay Shah will become the youngest-ever ICC President/Chairman in the history of the International Cricketing Council.
What’s in it for Jay Shah and India?
Under the approval of the Supreme Court regarding the BCCI constitution, an Office Bearer can serve up to six years before going off on a cooling period of 3 years. Also, a person can stay in office for a total period of 18 years in all. These 18 years are divided into 9 years within the State Association and 9 years within BCCI.
Currently, Jay Shah is about to enter into the last year of his secretaryship before he goes into the 3-year cooling period. So, if Jay Shah decides to assume the role of the ICC Chairman, it would mean that after his tenure with the ICC comes to an end, he will still have the remaining 4 years with the BCCI left which he can pursue without any cooling off break, considering his ICC tenure lasts over 3 years.
Apart from this move being a positive for Jay Shah, Indian fans have started discussing how this move would benefit Indian cricket in the coming years. Fans have started posting memes and opinions of how the next World Cup will surely be India’s now with Jay Shah leading the ICC. While all this is fun and games, there surely will be a bias towards India if Jay Shah does become the ICC Chairman.
One big question on everyone’s mind is what will now happen to the Champions Trophy 2025 scheduled to be held in Pakistan? The BCCI and the Indian Government have always been against this venue. Now, if Jay Shah takes up office in November 2024, could we see a change of venue for the Champions Trophy? It is surely a strong possibility.
Apart from this, there has been a lot of talk towards the Nepotism aspect of Jay Shah’s rise to glory. Him being the son of Amit Shah, India’s Minister of Home Affairs, has surely helped him Fast-track himself to the top of the Cricketing Pyramid. Reaching a post not many can reach ever at just 35 years of age is definitely suspicious and makes one wonder, are there people who might be much more deserving than Jay Shah? The answer would most definitely be yes.
