Sourav Ganguly vs Jay Shah battle for THIS top post in cricket world

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly with secretary Jay Shah. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Former India captain and Board of Control for Cricket in Indian president Sourav Ganguly and board secretary Jay Shah may well be eyeing one post – that of International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman. According to media reports, a face off between Ganguly and Jay Shah may take place with current ICC chairman Greg Barclay deciding not to extend his present term.

A report by leading Kolkata daily The Telegraph suggests that two BCCI officials in Ganguly and Shah are leading the race to become the successor of Barclay. Jay Shah is the son of India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

It was earlier reported that BCCI is very keen to have Indian as the ICC chairman during the 2023 ICC World Cup in India. Former BCCI president Sharad Pawar was the head of ICC during last World Cup in India in 2011.

India won the World Cup in 2011 and the BCCI is looking for a repeat of that with either Ganguly or Shah heading the ICC when ODI World Cup once again gets hosted by India in 2023.

According to the ICC rules, the Chairman is appointed for a tenure of two years, which can be extended to not more than six years. Currently, Greg Barclay is the chairman of ICC, having assumed office in December of 2020.

Chairman PCB Ramiz Raja will have an official meeting with BCCI to discuss resumption of cricket series between Pakistan and India during ICC meeting scheduled from 7-10Apr at Dubai. — Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) April 5, 2022

He is a commercial lawyer based in Auckland, working with multiple New Zealand and Australian companies. Given his professional commitments, Barclay is unlikely to push for a renewal of his term.

“If Sourav does decide to take the plunge at the ICC, he will want to make sure that he has the numbers in hand if there’s a contest. It is unlikely that the Pakistan board will agree to a BCCI nominee silently. But it’s too early to say if Sourav will give his consent. Shah has (also) shown huge interest in assuming the ICC chair,” a source was quoted saying by The Telegraph.

The annual conference of ICC will be held this July, and it will be interesting to see if there are major developments in that meeting.

The four Indians to hold highest positions in ICC…

* Till 2014, the president was the highest position in ICC. There have been two Indian presidents in the past in ICC – Jagmohan Dalmiya (1997-2000) and Sharad Pawar (2010-2012)

* The rules of ICC were updated in 2014, which saw a new position being created called the Chairman. Two Indians have occupied the chairman’s seat so far in ICC – N Srinivasan (2014-2015), and Shashank Manohar (2015-2020).