Cricket leader Sunil Gavaskar commended BCCI secretary Jay Shah who was elected to the post of chairman of planning commission of ICC on Tuesday unopposed and said to TOI “It won’t be surprising if the world game develops further still during his tenure as the ICC president.” The 35-year-old is the youngest ever to hold this prestigious office.
When asked about the election of Shah in place of Greg Barclay to the ICC chair, Gavaskar told this paper: “That’s wonderful news. Every Indian who has become the ICC president has contributed to the development of the sport as well as accumulated more revenue for the ICC and likewise for the other member countries. Take away the political affiliations and it is not hard to see that Jay Shah has done a lot for the Indian game,” Now several benefits have been given by Gavaskar for this view.
They include the introduction of Shah’s terms as Secretary of BCCI from 2019. “He was primarily responsible for launching Women’s Premier League (WPL), equalized payments to Indian women’s cricketers with that of the men’s team, elevated the pension of ex-cricketers, incentivized availability for Test and white ball internationals, and prize money for domestic tournaments. He has also been instrumental in the development of the new building for the National Cricket Academy (NCA, Bangalore) that has been set up during this time.”
“Considering all this testimony, it would be considered unreasonable for the ICC not to move further during his reign and even into his most elevated capacity who is the chairman of the ICC,” Gavaskar concluded.
