Jay Shah has become the youngest chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), starting his job on December 1. This means the position of secretary in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now open. People are curious about who will replace him. After a rule change in 2022, the secretary now holds a lot of power in the BCCI, overseeing both cricket and business matters, with the CEO reporting to him.
Shah was elected to the ICC role without competition in August, but many are still talking about how the BCCI will handle this change. Potential candidates to take over Shah’s position are Anil Patel from Gujarat and the current joint secretary, Devjit Saikia. There’s also some talk about Rohan Jaitley, the president of the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), but that’s just gossip for now.
A BCCI administrator said that it’s likely Saikia will serve as the interim secretary for now. He explained that there are daily issues to resolve, and whoever steps in needs to understand how the BCCI works. When an elected officer resigns, the BCCI has 45 days to hold a special meeting and choose a new one. From when Shah started at ICC, that gives the board until mid-January to make a decision.
The BCCI must also hire an electoral officer at least four weeks before the election. A senior official from a state unit said there’s plenty of time to make this change. They also added that this process should have started already since the new secretary needs to sign most documents. This issue should have been discussed at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September, but nobody really talked about it. Another person mentioned that there’s a lack of leadership at the BCCI right now.
The current officers’ three-year term ends in September next year, meaning the new secretary will only be in charge for about a year. Lastly, it remains unclear who will represent the BCCI on the ICC board, a post that Shah also held. Roger Binny, the BCCI president, is among the alternate directors, while Arun Dhumal, the IPL chairman, represents India on the ICC’s Chief Executives’ Committee.
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