To be able to become the ICC chairman, all Jay Shah needed was 9 votes out of the current 16 directors. And the BCCI secretary passed with flying colors as he got the backing of 15 members in the nomination stage. Heavyweights like Australia, England, and New Zeland stood firm behind Shah, among others. Except for Pakistan, who remained a mute spectator amid all the proceedings, and abstained from voting even.
And this is how, Jay Shah became the youngest ICC chair at 35, in the history, that too unopposed. Although that was expected, as soon as he threw in his hat, but one could have hoped for a bit of a resistance from at least Pakistan. But that was not to be. As per a report in Cricketnext, there was no word from PCB, during the entire process.
“There wasn’t any word from PCB. Not that it was required because Shah had overwhelming support from the members. But the Pakistan board preferred to play the role of a spectator during the entire process,” said a source, quoted as saying by Cricketnext.
Unprecedented Support for Jay Shah
Another notable occurrence was the type of support that Shah garnered from all the other boards. Not that he is the first Indian to be at the hem of affairs at the ICC — there were four others — but none of them got this support. Back in 1997, when Jagmohan Dalmiya went to ICC, he got the post with the help of Associate nations and Asian countries.
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Then during Sharad Pawar’s time, Australia and New Zealand put their weight behind John Howard. 2014, during N Srinivasan’s stint, all the boards weren’t aligned with him, but managed to get support from England and Australia. And then Shashank Manohar didn’t have the best of support from the BCCI itself. So what Shah has managed to pull off, is truly remarkable.
