Journey Of Jay Shah To Becoming The Youngest Chairman Of ICC
The simple journey of Jay Shah, India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son, to become the youngest chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the age of 35 has been smooth, as the incumbent secretary of BCCI was elected unopposed to the position following current chairman Greg Barclay refusing to hold a third term. He is set to take charge in December this year.
Born in 1988 to Indian politician and BJP leader Amit Shah and Sonal Shah, Jay Shah completed his schooling from Gujarat and a BTech degree from Nirma University, a private university in Ahmadabad. Shah’s entry into formal cricket administration began at the age of 21 in 2009, when he joined the district-level committee of the Central Board of Cricket Ahmedabad. He became the joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) in 2013, and his father, Amit Shah, was the president of GCA at that time. Both supervised the construction of Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad back then.
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Jay Shah became a member of the finance and marketing committees of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2015, and in 2019, he was elected as the secretary of BCCI, becoming the youngest to hold the position. Shah’s marriage was held in 2015 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other high-profile dignitaries. In 2022, he was re-elected to the position of BCCI chief. In 2021, along with being the chief of BCCI, Shah was appointed as the president of the Asian Cricket Council and was re-elected again in 2024.
Shah’s foray into the international cricket association started in 2022, when he became an ICC Board Member Representative. He was elected as the head of the body’s all-powerful Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee at the board meeting the same year.
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In 2017, Shah filed a defamation case of Rs 100 crore against the editors of The Wire over an article that claimed Jay Shah’s company revenue increased 16,000 times one year after Narendra Modi became the Indian Prime Minister. In 2018, a Gujarat High Court order gave an order preventing the portal from publishing any content linking Shah’s business with the Prime Minister.
Notably, though Shah’s qualification and background to administer the cricket board and its operation are being questioned, his work as BCCI chief has been hailed for several achievements he is credited with. It is said that Shah managed to establish strong relationships with players in the Indian cricket team and built unique equations with them. Notably, Rohit Sharma had called him one of the three pillars that enabled the victory of the Indian team in the T20 match in the West Indies.
Shah is also credited with navigating efficiently during the COVID pandemic, overcoming the challenges. He is also credited with the completion of the new National Cricket Academy.
