Jay Shah is now formally the International Cricket Council (ICC) chief. The question now is how he will take world cricket forward, while keeping Indian interests paramount. And can he treat this position as an opportunity to leave his own imprint, and move away from his father’s shadow?
At 35, Shah is the youngest to take charge of the ICC. Just over 27 years after Jagmohan Dalmiya moved from being BCCI Secretary to ICC head honcho, Shah is all set to do the same.
Others, including N Srinivasan, Sharad Pawar and Shashank Manohar, who served as ICC heads, moved to the apex body after serving their tenures as presidents of the BCCI. In that sense, Shah’s is a big leap forward and a huge opportunity.
It will also be an interesting challenge because the ICC’s financial health will be the key focus in the next three years. The USA experiment during the T20 World Cup threw up a lot of questions and if the ICC is serious about that market, they need to take a number of key calls. With the Olympics in four years, and with cricket making it back to the roster for Los Angeles 28, this could be a huge moment in the game’s history.
If things go wrong, it would also be a major opportunity lost. Dr S Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister, alluded to it a day earlier. “With cricket in LA28, the government of India is committed to supporting Nepal and Afghanistan and others and will play a major role in getting these nations Olympic ready,” he said. That’s where Shah has an opening. Expand cricket’s market beyond India and open up new revenue streams. Women’s cricket adds to this opportunity, and with the Olympics still three and a half years away, the timing is near perfect.
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Another question confronting the ICC, and it’s hardly new, is how the value of World Cups compares with key leagues like the IPL. Having conducted the IPL, Shah will know the economics. As ICC boss, his ambition will be to make sure that the World Cups retain their aura, financially and otherwise. Can they compete with franchise leagues, or will their values go down over a period of time?
Finally, how does he deal with India and Pakistan? While he will have to keep Indian interests in mind, it will also be key as head of global cricket to make sure every stakeholder is happy. For example, how can Indian monies be leveraged to promote Test Cricket? How does he keep PCB in check? How will he deal with unreasonable demands from across the border?
As Shah succeeds Greg Barclay, it will be a very interesting few years for him and cricket. This period could well define his legacy as a sports administrator. At the ICC, he is Jay Shah, the Chairman. Not the son of India’s home minister. If anything, that’s something which might prompt Pakistan to play hard ball.
That’s where Shah will have to stamp his mark on the world game and steer it forward. How he deals with the current Champions Trophy situation could be a really good index to understand what lies ahead. As Chairman, when he travels to Pakistan, for example, how will he deal with the media? It could be the making of him. If he succeeds, he will always be spoken about as Jay Shah, his own man.
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