The evaluation of India’s cricket administrators based on their contributions to the game is still inconclusive, but one thing that is certain is the effortless way in which Jay Shah carved out a position for himself in the halls of power, both nationally and internationally.
Having been the youngest person to hold this position before, the 35-year-old was chosen to the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairmanship without any opposition.
His ability to establish a personal connection with players is well-known, and those who witnessed the inner workings of the BCCI during his tenure as board secretary are not shocked by his elevation.
In 2009, Shah began serving with the Central Board of Cricket Ahmedabad (CBCA) at the district level, marking his official entrée into cricket administration.
After that, he worked for the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) as an executive until rising to the position of joint secretary in 2013.
He is recognized for having established an organized system of age-group coaching during his tenure there, ensuring that the players were proficient in senior cricket by the time they reached the Ranji level. Gujarat won the Ranji Trophy in 2016–17 as a result.
It’s not like previous Indian chiefs of the ICC didn’t get along well with players.
Before going to the ICC, Sharad Pawar, a career politician, and N Srinivasan, a successful businessman who turned natural administrator, sought advice from the experienced players they trusted during their terms as BCCI Presidents.
However, Shah is able to communicate with everyone who wants to be heard, whether it is captain Rohit Sharma, superstar batsman Virat Kohli, bowling leader Jasprit Bumrah, or guys who are ahead of him like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya.
Earlier this year, Rohit had gone so far as to call Shah one of the “three pillars” that helped the West Indies win the T20 World Cup.
He has also adhered to his directive to delegate decision-making authority to specialists for cricket-related matters and to accept final say on things pertaining to policy and administration.
Looking back at his five-year term, he had to navigate a very difficult period for two of those years, 2020 and 2021, when COVID-19 shook the world and brought everything to a standstill.
One of his first challenges was to supervise the establishment of bio bubbles during the IPL, handle positive instances by forming medical teams inside those bubbles, and guarantee tournament completion.
His creation of the Women Premier League (WPL), which had not taken off in previous years, would be his greatest accomplishment.
He completed two editions with success, and the cherry on top was that WPL provided the greatest compensation package available for women’s T20 matches.
He excels in this area more than his predecessors, who were blind to the possibilities of the women’s game.
It was a positive move when he decided to guarantee parity by giving the Indian women’s cricket team identical match money (Rs 15 lakh every Test, Rs 8 lakh per ODI, and Rs 4 lakh per T20I for first XI players).
Incentives for Test cricket were another policy move where he demonstrated his leadership qualities. This year, India will play ten Test matches. Should Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play every match, they will receive match fees of Rs six crore (Rs 60 lakh per match plus an incentive of Rs 45 lakh).
That is, incidentally, just one crore and a half less than their A+ central retainership deal.
This is not to argue that Shah is incapable of using force when necessary.
A fairly forceful slap on the knuckles was inflicted upon younger players who were thought to be eschewing local cricket in favour of IPL riches.
Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were both stripped of their central contracts for failing to put domestic cricket first.
However, Shah also demonstrated his disapproval of a one-size-fits-all approach. Consequently, when they asked for their breaks, Rohit, Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah were rightfully granted them.
It was a risky move to give selectors chairman Ajit Agarkar unrestricted authority over decisions pertaining to Kishan and Iyer’s contracts and to promote Suryakumar Yadav to head the Twenty20 team.
Under his leadership, no worthy cricket player in India could argue that, despite their achievements, they weren’t taken seriously enough to be considered for the national team.
In light of the BCCI’s current leadership, Srinivasan prevented Mohinder Amarnath from removing MS Dhoni from the captaincy despite the team’s 0–8 Test humiliation in England and Australia.
Another achievement of Shah is the completion of the new NCA (National Cricket Academy) which is a Centre of Excellence with capability of holding multiple first-class games at one venue during the domestic season.
