BCCI elects Saikia to top job

Published January 13, 2025

MUMBAI: Indian cric­ket board on Sunday elec­ted its new chief, former player and advocate Devajit Saikia, the only person nominated to the top post.

“Devajit Saikia is decl­ared duly elected as the Secretary of the BCCI,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.

Saikia, 55, succeeds Jay Shah who left the position to become chairman of the International Cricket Cou­ncil, the game’s global governing body.

Businessman and state cricket administrator Pra­b­­htej Singh Bhatia has been appointed BCCI trea­s­urer, the board added.

Shah’s departure last month to become chairman of the ICC prompted the appointment of Saikia, who was already on the BCCI board as interim secretary.

An unknown among fans after a modest playing career, Saikia has close ties with India’s ruling Hindu-nationalist Bhar­atiya Jan­ata Party (BJP).

Saikia began in administration by serving as general secretary of a cricket club in the northeastern state of Assam under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Sarma is now Assam’s chief minister for the BJP, which has governed India nationally since 2014 under Prime Minister Nare­ndra Modi.

Saikia and Sarma both later served in the Assam state cricket association.

Saikia was a wicket-keeper/batsman with modest returns in first-class cricket where he played four matches for his home state Assam, scoring just 53 runs.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2025

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