The current secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the front-runner to become the new chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), replacing New Zealand’s Greg Barclay, who has denied his third term for the post, as the election is stated to take place on August 27.
But if Jay Shah goes on to become the head of the world governing body, after getting favorable numbers including the support of Cricket Australia (CA) and England Cricket Board (ECB), there is no clarity on who will replace him as the BCCI secretary.
Jay Shah is supposed to have the backing of 15 out of the 16 members in the ICC but he still has less than four days to decide if he wants to make the move, given he still has one year left in the second consecutive term as the BCCI secretary. The new chairman is supposed to take charge on December 01, while the last date for filing the nomination is August 27.
Three possible candidates to replace Jay Shah as the new BCCI secretary
The mandatory three-year cooling-off period will start for Shah after the end of his term in the ICC in October 2025, to plan a comeback in the richest cricket board of the game. But the question arises of who will come forward to replace the veteran in the BCCI as neither he nor the other members of the board have made their plans for the post.
Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar Disagrees With Jay Shah On Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma In Duleep Trophy 2024
Despite that, three possible candidates could replace him as the new BCCI secretary, all of whom are experienced and have been in the association for a long time.
Rajiv Shukla, the current vice-president of the BCCI and the Congress MP in Rajya Sabha, could be asked by the Indian Cricket Board to do the job for at least a year. It shouldn’t make him wait to consider the post given the secretary post is undoubtedly more powerful than the current vice-president position.
The present BCCI treasure and a big name in MCA administration, Ashish Shelar, who is also the Maharashtra BJP heavyweight, is a politician and could be asked to take the role of the secretary post, replacing Jay Shah for a year. However, being an influential name, he could give a thought to the process.
The third possible name for the post is Arun Dhumal, who is the IPL chairman and has huge experience in running the board. He has been a treasurer and now runs the cash-rich league of the world. Dhumal and Shukla exchanging their posts could be the easiest way out but it’s not clear if he could consider the post.
There are other young administrations, like the DDCA president Rohan Jaitley or the former CAB president Avishek Dalmiya, whose names could be up for discussion. The other young state unit officials include Punjab’s Dilsher Khanna, Vipul Phadke from Goa, and Prabhtej Bhatia from Chhattisgarh.
Also Read: ICC Finds Jay Shah’s Support To Save Test Cricket With INR 125 Crore Fund
“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.” A former BCCI secretary expressed. “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.”
It would be interesting to see how the story unfolds and if Jay Shah decides to go for the post of the ICC chairman.
![IND vs NZ [WATCH]: Matt Henry takes an unbelievable catch to dismiss Jasprit Bumrah on Day 2 of Bengaluru Test](https://i2.wp.com/crickettimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Matt-Henry-1.webp?w=380&resize=380,220&ssl=1 "IND vs NZ [WATCH]: Matt Henry takes an unbelievable catch to dismiss Jasprit Bumrah on Day 2 of Bengaluru Test")
