Jay Shah: As ICC President, Shah faces the challenge of finding a solution for the Champions Trophy, how has the journey been?

Jay Shah is the fifth Indian to head this global body. Before Shah, businessman late Jagmohan Dalmiya, politician Sharad Pawar, lawyer Shashank Manohar and industrialist N Srinivasan have been among the Indians who led the world cricket body.

Fifth Indian to become ICC President
Jay Shah is the fifth Indian to lead this global body. Before Shah, businessman late Jagmohan Dalmiya, politician Sharad Pawar, lawyer Shashank Manohar and industrialist N Srinivasan have been among the Indians who led the world cricket body. 36-year-old Shah was working as BCCI secretary for the last five years.

Challenge to resolve hybrid model issue
Just before the start of Shah’s tenure, a virtual meeting of the ICC was held in which a decision was expected regarding the Champions Trophy. It is being told that in this meeting the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was asked to accept the hybrid model, but the PCB agreed to it with conditions. Jay Shah’s tenure will begin with challenges as the ICC needs to find an acceptable solution to implement the hybrid model for the Champions Trophy scheduled in Pakistan. The BCCI has already said that it will not send its team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy. Shah has been the top BCCI official who took this decision and now he has come into a new role as ICC President who has to resolve the ongoing tussle between India and Pakistan over the Champions Trophy. In such a situation, it will be interesting to see what comes out of it.

A meeting has been held regarding the Champions Trophy before Shah took over, but what came out of it is not yet clear. Many types of claims are being made in sources and media reports. Some sources say that the PCB has put a condition before the ICC that it will accept the hybrid model only if the ICC implements this policy in all its tournaments till 2031. There are many tournaments from 2025 to 2031 which India has to host. Whether the ICC will accept this condition of the PCB remains to be seen, but it will also be interesting to see how Jay Shah resolves this issue.

The journey to the post of ICC President has been interesting

Shah, who runs the global body of cricket, is the youngest president till date. Jay Shah has been made memes on social media many times and allegations were also made against him, but the journey from Ahmedabad to becoming the ICC chief was very interesting for him. Shah’s personality is clearly visible as a reformist administrator, which he did during his tenure. A skilled cricket administrator, successful businessman, devotee of Hanuman ji and a disciplined life-loving Shah has left his mark in his own way.

Important decisions taken as BCCI Secretary

Shah’s tenure as BCCI Secretary was successful in many ways. Two dates are very important in Indian cricket. One is 27 October 2022, when it was announced that Indian women cricketers will be paid the same fees as men and the other is 28 January 2023, when players were auctioned for the Women’s Premier League (WPL). If the IPL changed the scenario of world cricket, then the fees equal to men and the WPL brought a new revolution in women’s cricket, the credit for which goes to Jai Shah.

Shah of reforms

Jay Shah’s focus has been on reforms during his tenure. He also made it mandatory for senior players to play in other domestic tournaments including Ranji. For this reason, action was also taken against Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan for not playing Ranji. Apart from this, Shah is working with the England and Australian Cricket Boards to promote Test cricket along with limited overs. Cricket has been included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, in which Jai Shah played an important role on behalf of the ICC. Not only this, he also included cricket in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. Shah has played an important role in building the world’s largest Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. Now when he is starting his tenure as ICC President, everyone will expect him to develop this popular game further.

Biography of Jai Shah?

Born on 22 September 1988, Jai Shah is the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Sonal Shah. Jai Shah, who received his early education from Gujarat, has a B.Tech degree from Nirma University of the state. He married his college friend Rishita Patel in February 2015. They have two daughters. His close friends say that he always likes to remain disciplined and normal.