NEW DELHI: India’s cricket chief Jay Shah has been elected unopposed as chairman of the sport’s world body, the International Cricket Council, it said on Tuesday.

Shah will take over the role from December, after current Chair Greg Barclay decided not to seek a third term.

“I am committed to working closely with the ICC team and our member nations to further globalise cricket,” Shah said, adding he was “humbled” by the appointment.

“Our goal is to make cricket more inclusive and popular than ever before.”

From being the chief of the world’s richest cricket board to leading the ICC, the 35-year-old’s meteoric rise illustrates India’s domination of the sport’s global administration.

In a country where the sport and politics go hand in glove, Shah is best known for being the son of home minister Amit Shah, the right-hand man of Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Shah, the powerful Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India since 2019, becomes the youngest ICC chairman.

Top cricketers in India enjoy superstardom with millions of die-hard fans, most lucrative playing contracts, and endorsement deals not seen anywhere else in global cricket.

By some counts, Indian cricket on average generates more revenue than Bollywood.

More than 90 percent of the sport’s billion-plus worldwide fans are in the Indian subcontinent, according to a 2018 ICC study.

ICC has 100 members, and is responsible for staging global events such as the World Cup.

Shah said he wanted to “embrace fresh thinking and innovation to elevate the love for cricket worldwide”.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2024