Discussion on Jay Shah taking over as next ICC chairman to be held at AGM

Jay Shah. (Source – Getty Images)

The upcoming ICC Annual Conference will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Friday, July 19. One of the most important agendas to be discussed during the meeting is the date of BCCI secretary Jay Shah’s potential takeover from New Zealander Greg Barclay as the new ICC chairman.

The global cricket governing body’s conference starts with the board meeting on Friday. It is expected to be dominated by losses of more than USD 20 million incurred by the ICC for hosting T20 World Cup matches in the United States of America. The nine-point agenda of the AGM doesn’t include the event’s financial details. However, it will be discussed by the board as a “post-event report”, which is a standard operating procedure.

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The appointment of ICC’s new external auditor is also on the list of agendas along with discussions on ICC memberships, reports from associate member’s meeting and ICC development Awards presentation. A burning topic in the cricket fraternity is India’s participation in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. However, it is not on the agenda, unless it is raised in the meeting with permission of the chair under the section “Any Other Business”. An ICC source acquainted with the developments, however, said that one of the main points of interest for people at the ICC is when Shah takes over the reins of the world body.

“It is not about how but when, as he still has one year left as BCCI secretary before his cooling off period in Indian board starts in 2025 as per constitution. However, if he has to take over in 2025, then Barclay can’t complete his third term of two years from December 2024 to December 2026. There is a school of thought that what if ICC’s chairmanship term changes from three terms of two years each to two terms of three years, so the cumulative term can remain six years,” the ICC source said.

It is widely believed that if Barclay’s current term becomes three years, then Shah can continue his six years as BCCI secretary and take charge as ICC chairman in 2025 for a three-year period when he will be cooling off in BCCI. After this tenure, in 2028, he can return and take over as board president.

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Barclay has been the ICC Chairman since November 2020 after he received 11 out of 16 votes in the second round of voting, pipping another contender Imran Khwaja. Meanwhile, Shah, 35, is in line to become the youngest leader of the global organisation.