Jay Shah’s ICC Chairmanship ambitions create chaos; BCCI faces major headache over secretary role

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah is all set to take over the post of the ICC Chairman. There is a strong possibility of him succeeding Greg Barclay as the chairman of the International Cricket Council.

As per the reports in PTI, it is learned that Jay Shah has got the backing of 15 out of 16 members of the ICC Board to be the Chairman. But so far there hasn't been any clarity if he will be taking up the post. The BCCI secretary reportedly has less than 96 hours to decide if wants to make the move.

According to the rules of the ICC, each of the 16 current ICC directors must submit their nominations by August 27 to be considered for the chairmanship. But reports claimed that he will be nominating himself and will be elected unopposed as he has got backing of ECB as well as Cricket Australia.

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Jay Shah currently has one year left in his second consecutive term as BCCI secretary. But if he takes up the role of the ICC Chairman the post in the Indian body will be vacant. Shah won't be able to take the post in Indian cricket till he completes his three-year term with ICC, which will end in October 2025.

The post of the BCCI secretary will be one of the talking points if Jay Shah moves as ICC president. The reports claimed that neither Shah himself nor the people close to him have yet divulged his immediate plans about the post in the Indian Cricket body.

Rajiv Shukla, Ashish Shelar, Arun Dhumal are in contention for the BCCI secretary post after Jay Shah

There is the possibility that Rajiv Shukla might take up the post of Jay Shah. He is currently the vice president of the BCCI, which is like a rubber-stamp job, and he won't mind taking up the role. Treasurer and a big name in MCA administration Ashish Shelar too might be in contention but him being busy with politics might not work in his favour.

IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal can be the prime candidate as well. Dhumal and Shukla swapping designations could be the easiest way out but so far there hasn't been any clarity by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Joint Secretary Devajit 'Lon' Saikia might also be elevated.

A former BCCI secretary while speaking to PTI said that there are chances that some fresh face will take over the role but he mentioned that someone coming and bypassing big names normally doesn't happen. He explained:

"It can happen as there are no hard and fast rules. But if you look at BCCI's power structure, president, secretary and treasurer are three key posts.

"There are people who have been in the system and someone just coming and bypassing them normally doesn't happen. But first, is Jay ready to go to the ICC? Even if he doesn't go now, he can go anytime," he concluded.