Jay Shah, the incumbent secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has emerged as the front-runner to succeed Greg Barclay as the International Cricket Council (ICC) chair.
According to the ICC rule book, each of the current 16 ICC directors will have to file nominations to be in fray for the ICC chair by August 27. In case, there are multiple nominations, an election will be held in the second week of November and the new chair will take over from December 1.
Several sources have indicated that with the backing of the cricket boards from Australia and England, Shah’s elevation to the top job is a mere formality as he is expected to be appointed unanimously. Though Barclay was still eligible to seek a third term of two years, he informed the ICC Board on Tuesday, that he won’t contest for another term, thus paving the way for Shah’s elevation to the top role in the global cricket governing body.
However, he will have to resign from the position of the BCCI secretary before moving on to the ICC. Shah, who began his second tenure as the BCCI secretary in October 2022, is supposed to serve a cooling-off period of at least three years at the BCCI after his current tenure ends in September 2025. And keeping that in mind, a move to the ICC seems to be a feasible option for Shah, who is the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The ICC has proposed rule changes to amend the chair’s tenure to a maximum of two terms of three years each, in sync with the BCCI constitution.
If Shah eventually takes over, he will be the youngest ever ICC chief at the age of 36. He will also join Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N. Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar in the club of Indians to have chaired the global body. Currently, he is the BCCI-appointed ICC director, and also the chairperson of the ICC’s Finance and Commercial Affairs sub-committee, considered the most influential arms of the ICC.
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