Jay Shah needs to rally round all members equally in ICC role

There were no surprises at all as Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, was elected unopposed as the chairman-designate of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday. At 35 years, he becomes the youngest chairman of the world governing body of the game — underlying India’s overwhelming financial clout in the sport all over again.

The die was cast last week when Greg Barclay, the New Zealander who had been the incumbent chair since 2020, told the ICC board of directors that he would not be contesting for the third term once his tenure ends in November. Shah, who had been already hoisted as the head of the ICC’s financial & commerical affairs committee, knew time was ripe to stake his claim.

It was perhaps a given that there would be no other nominations and once the deadline expired on Tuesday, Shah was primed to have an uninterrupted run for next two terms amounting to six years as the ICC head – which will also work as his ‘cooling off’ period after the BCCI tenure. After realising his ambitions as the global body chief, Shah would again be eligible to take over the reigns of the Indian board as a president if he wants to – and he will be only 41 by then.       

Once the hype around having a fifth Indian in the hot seat (the others being veteran administrators like Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N. Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar) settles down, it will be time to take a close look at the challenges facing Shah. The son of Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, had leveraged on his position of power to rise in the BCCI in no time but in the new avatar – he has to be seen as a chairman with equal empathy and ears for all the ICC board members.

 Hybrid model again?

 This is where Shah has to take Pakistan into confidence towards working at a hybrid model for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy in February-March next year. The ICC, it is learnt, has already set aside additional funds whereby teams can travel to a neutral venue (read: UAE) to play their matches against India – while the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had drawn up a draft schedule by allotting all matches of Rohit Sharma & Co in Lahore for security reasons.

  While the BCCI is yet to make a formal announcement about them travelling to Pakistan, it’s a no-brainer that there will be no change in the Indian government’s stance about their cricket team not travelling to Pakistan for ‘security reasons.’ The PCB, which agreed to the hybrid format for Asia Cup 2023 to facilitate India’s participation, had sent their team for the 2023 50-overs World Cup on the assumption that the Men in Blue may travel across the border this time for the Champions Trophy.

 The ICC, hence, may have a problem on their hands if Pakistan refuse to travel to India when the later hosts the 2026 World T20. Shah, in his avatar as the president of Asian Cricket Council (ACC), had been indiscreet in the past with some of his comments about Pakistan playing hosts of the Asia Cup last year – but his ICC role will demand a greater exercise in diplomacy. ‘’All (stakeholders) were initially hesitant to commit to hosting the entire tournament in Pakistan due to concerns related to the security and economic condition prevailing in the country,’’ he had said in a statement.

 TV rights

  His immediate task will be, however, to renegotiate Disney Star’s four-year broadcast deal with the ICC as the latter had been seeking relief on the overall valuation of the $ US 3 billion deal it signed in 2022 for TV and digital rights. Star, who had been banking on sharing the responsibility with Zee TV, had been left in the lurch after the Zee-Sony TV merger plans fell through.     

 There are also a number of other serious issues facing the ICC at a time when Test cricket is facing a battle for survival while the mushrooming of franchise leagues in all member nations have brought the game on the edge of a club versus country crisis. The governing body has promised to allocate extra funds to revive the longest format of the game, though the buy-in from the broadcasters and sponsors remains a matter of concern.  

 Looking further ahead, Shah will also have to remove the hurdles towards popularising the sport of cricket and integrating it with other Olympic disciplines ahead of Los Angeles 2028. It will be an opportunity for Shah to preside over a historic occasion, but he has many a challenge upfront to address first.

 It will be a tough ask then for Shah, who is used to calling the shots unopposed in the BCCI. This time, he has to play a more wait-and-watch game in the board rooms of the ICC headquarters of Dubai.