Jay Shah elected unopposed as ICC chairman

Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been elected unopposed as the Independent Chair of the International Cricket Council.

Shah will succeed current ICC Chair Greg Barclay and will assume the role on December, 1, the ICC said in a statement on Tuesday.

Barclay on August 20 had revealed that he would not seek a third term and would step down at the conclusion of his tenure in November.

“I am humbled by the nomination as the Chair of the International Cricket Council,” said Jay Shah. “I am committed to working closely with the ICC team and our member nations to further globalize 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.”

It is worth mentioning here that the BCCI secretary was the sole nominee for the chairmanship.

Following his election, Shah vowed to expand the global reach and popularity of cricket, especially with its upcoming inclusion in the LA 2028 Olympics.

“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,” the BCCI secretary said.

Meanwhile, he became the fifth Indian to become the ICC chairman after Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar.

Jay Shah assumed the role of the BCCI secretary in October 2019, and became a part of the ICC’s influential Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee in 2022, taking over its chairmanship in 2023.

In 2022, he was re-elected as BCCI secretary until 2025.

However, he will have to relinquish his position at the BCCI and at the ICC’s F&CA committee after taking charge as the ICC chairman.