Jay Shah is the new ICC President: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah will now be seen in a new role. He has been unanimously elected as the new Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
It is not yet clear where Jay Shah will be placed when India’s cricket administrators are evaluated on the basis of their contribution to the game. But it will remain undeniable that he has very comfortably made a place for himself in the corridors of power, first at the national and now at the global level.
35-year-old Jai Shah was elected unopposed as the President of the International Cricket Council (ICC). He is the youngest to reach this position. Those who have seen the working style of the Board during Jai Shah’s tenure as Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are not surprised by Jai Shah reaching this level.
Jay Shah’s formal entry into cricket administration came in 2009, when he started working with the Central Cricket Board Ahmedabad (CBCA) at the district level. He then moved to state-level administration as an executive of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and eventually became its joint secretary in 2013.
But in the case of Jai Shah, whether it is captain Rohit Sharma, star batsman Virat Kohli or bowling attack leader Jasprit Bumrah or second-line players like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, he manages to coordinate with everyone who wants to be heard.
Fulfilled the dream of winning the ICC title
The Indian team could not win any ICC title since 2013. But a strong team was formed under the tenure of Jai Shah and the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. It played the final of the ODI World Cup 2023. While it also became the champion in the T20 World Cup 2024. After India’s T20 World Cup victory in the West Indies this year, captain Rohit described Jai Shah as one of the ‘3 pillars’ due to which this victory was possible.
Maintained cricket during the corona period
When one looks at the 5-year tenure of Jai Shah, he had to go through a very challenging phase for two years (2020 and 2021) when Covid-19 shook the world and everything came to a standstill.
Overseeing the creation of bio-bubbles during the IPL, handling positive cases by forming medical teams within those bubbles, and ensuring the full conduct of tournaments were among the hurdles he overcame.
Equal pay for women players, laid the foundation of WPL
However, her biggest achievement will be the launch of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Under her leadership, two consecutive successful seasons of WPL were organized and the icing on the cake was that this league is giving the highest amount of contracts in women’s T20 cricket.
His predecessors ignored this aspect of women’s cricket. His decision to ensure equality by paying the Indian women’s cricket team equal match fees (Rs 15 lakh per Test, Rs 8 lakh per ODI and Rs 4 lakh per T20 match for players in the playing XI) was a step in the right direction.
Promoting Test cricket was a big achievement
Another policy decision was to promote Test cricket. India will play a 10-Test season this year and Virat Kohli along with Rohit Sharma will get a match fee of Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 lakh per match, including Rs 45 lakh incentives) if they play all the matches.
Some players were even punished for domestic cricket
This is just Rs 1 crore less than his A-plus central retainership contract. This does not mean that Jay Shah did not punish when needed. He taught a lesson to young players who were believed to be ignoring domestic cricket and running after the riches of IPL.
Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer both lost their central contracts for not prioritising domestic cricket. Another achievement of Shah is the creation of the new NCA (National Cricket Academy) which is a centre of excellence where multiple first-class matches can be held at a single venue during the domestic season.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)