From district level to world level, Jay Shah does the hard work | Cricket News

The jury is still out on where Jay Shah will rank when Indian cricket administrators are judged on their contribution to the game, but what is undeniable is the effortless way he carved out a place for himself in the corridors of power, first at the national level and now at the global level. The 35-year-old was elected unopposed as the International Cricket Council (ICC) president, the youngest to ever achieve this position. Those who have seen the workings of the BCCI, during his time as Board Secretary, are not surprised by his rise and vouch for his ability to connect with players on a personal level.

Shah's formal entry into cricket administration was in 2009, when he began working at the district level with the Central Cricket Board of Ahmedabad (CBCA).

He then moved into state-level administration as an executive of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and eventually became its joint secretary in 2013.

During his time there, he is credited with creating a structured age-group coaching system that ensured that when players reached Ranji level, they were up to par for senior cricket. The result was Gujarat's Ranji Trophy victory in 2016-17.

Equation with players

It's not that previous ICC bosses in India have not had good relations with the players.

Jagmohan Dalmiya and N Srinivasan, two successful businessmen who turned natural managers, and Sharad Pawar, a career politician, sought input from key players whom they trusted during their tenures as BCCI presidents before approaching the ICC.

But in Shah's case, be it captain Rohit Sharma, star batsman Virat Kohli or pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah or the next players in line like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, he manages to have an equation with anyone who wants to be heard.

Rohit went as far as to describe Shah as one of the “three pillars” that made the T20 World Cup triumph in the West Indies possible earlier this year.

It has also remained true to its mission of taking final decisions on political and administrative matters, leaving decision-making on cricketing matters to the professionals.

Looking back at his five-year term, he had to face a very difficult period for two years (2020 and 2021), when COVID-19 shook the world and brought everything to a standstill.

Overseeing the creation of bio-bubbles during the IPL, managing positive cases by creating medical teams within those bubbles and ensuring the completion of tournaments was one of the first hurdles he overcame.

Their greatest achievement, however, would be the launch of the Women Premier League (WPL), which had failed to take off in previous years.

It managed to successfully run two consecutive editions and the icing on the cake was the fact that WPL offered the best pay package for women’s T20 matches on the market.

This is one aspect in which she stands out above her predecessors, who never realised the potential of women's football.

Their decision to ensure parity by offering equal match fees to the Indian women's cricket team (Rs 15 lakh per Test, Rs 8 lakh per ODI and Rs 4 lakh per T20I for first XI players) was a step in the right direction.

Another policy decision where he kept his word was the incentivisation of Test cricket. India has a 10-match Test season this year and if Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli play all the matches, they would earn match fees of six crore (Rs 60 lakh per match, including the Rs 45 lakh incentive).

Incidentally, that is just one crore of rupees less than its central retainer contract.

This is not to say that Shah does not use the whip when necessary.

A heavy slap on the knuckles was received for the younger players who seemed to be running after the riches of the IPL while ignoring domestic cricket.

Both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer lost their central contracts for not prioritising domestic cricket.

But Shah also showed that he does not believe in a one-size-fits-all policy. That is why Rohit, Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah deserved the chance they asked for.

Giving chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar a free hand on matters like the contracts of Kishan and Iyer and elevating Suryakumar Yadav as captain of the T20 team were bold decisions.

Under his watch, no deserving Indian cricketer could claim that he was not considered good enough to be in the national spotlight despite his good performances.

To put it in perspective, Srinivasan, as acting BCCI president, did not allow Mohinder Amarnath to sack MS Dhoni from his captaincy despite the 0-8 humiliation in the England and Australia Tests.

Another achievement of Shah is the completion of the new NCA (National Cricket Academy), which is a Centre of Excellence with the capacity to host multiple first-class games at a single venue during the domestic season.