The election for the next International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman is likely to take place in November this year. The incumbent Greg Barclay has been holding the post for four years but is eligible for another term.

Meanwhile, there are reports claiming that BCCI secretary Jay Shah could throw his hat in the ring. If Shah does so and eventually gets elected, he will become the youngest ever to occupy the high-profile post.

According to a Cricbuzz report, ICC will conduct its annual conference in Colombo later in July and the timeline for the election of next chairman could be formalised during the meeting.

While Jay Shah is yet to speak on this matter, there are reports suggesting that he wants to bring in changes in the way ICC functions especially after the controversy over the organisation of the recently held T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.

The report published in Cricbuzz further says that the ICC has amended the tenure of chairman. The new head of cricket’s global governing body will serve for a period of three years as opposed to two earlier but will can only be re-elected once unlike twice before.

Shah started his career in cricket administration in 2009 with the Gujarat Cricket Association. He was elected as the BCCI secretary in 2019.

Recently, Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at the critics of Jay Shah, claiming they are not giving him credit due to their “political agenda”.

According to Gavaskar, Shah has taken bold steps towards the growth of Indian cricket including equal pay for men’s and women’s cricket, launching Women’s Premier League among others.

“Look, I think the quality of governance has always been such that they’ve aimed to promote Indian cricket. There will always be the occasional individual who might be a bit disappointing. But I think what the current leadership has done is quite outstanding,” Gavaskar told India Today.

“Many people criticize Jay Shah, focusing on his father’s political position rather than his contributions. However, what Jay Shah has achieved—like bringing in the Women’s Premier League, ensuring equal pay for the Women’s team as the Men’s, increasing fees for IPL players, and significantly boosting incentives—is commendable. Unfortunately, some refuse to give him credit due to a political agenda,” he added.