New Delhi: Jay Shah, the current honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been elected unopposed as the Independent Chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC), and will assume his position on December 1.
At 35, Shah will be the youngest ever to head the ICC and the fifth Indian to head cricket’s global governing authority after Jagmohan Dalmiya (president), Sharad Pawar, N Srinivasan, and Shashank Manohar.
Shah will succeed Greg Barclay, who will step down as chairman when his term concludes this November. He took over as the ICC chair in November 2020 and was re-elected unopposed in 2022. As per the rules, he was entitled to a third and final term, but he decided to step down.
“ICC Chair Greg Barclay informed the Board that he will not stand for a third term and will step down from the role when his current tenure ends at the end of November,” the ICC had said in a statement earlier.
The nominations for the post were to be submitted by August 27. With Shah entering the race as the sole candidate, there was no need for an election. After being elected unopposed, Shah in an ICC release said, “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 globalise 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.”
“While we will build on the valuable lessons learned, we must also embrace fresh thinking and innovation to elevate the love for cricket worldwide. The inclusion of our sport in the Olympics at LA 2028 represents a significant inflection point for the growth of cricket, and I am confident that it will drive the sport forward in unprecedented ways.”
