Monday, February 17th, 2025

Fees of women cricketers increased, WPL started, a lesson for players running after money, Jay Shah made his/her presence felt like this


New Delhi. Jay Shah has become the new chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC). It is not yet decided where Jay Shah will be placed when India’s cricket administrators are evaluated on the basis of their contribution to the game. Still, it will remain undeniable that he/she has comfortably made a place for himself in the corridors of power first at the national and now at the global level. 35-year-old Jay Shah is the youngest to reach this position.

Those who have seen the working style of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during Jay Shah’s tenure as the secretary of the board are not surprised by his/her rise to this level. Shah’s formal entry into cricket administration came in 2009, when he/she started working at the district level with the Central Cricket Board Ahmedabad (CBCA). he/she then moved to state-level administration as an executive of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and eventually became its joint secretary in 2013.

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Jay Shah has a good relationship with the players on a personal level. This does not mean that India’s former ICC chiefs did not have a good equation with the players. Jagmohan Dalmiya and N Srinivasan were businessmen and became successful administrators. Seasoned politician Sharad Pawar knew the point of view of trusted senior players during his/her tenure as BCCI president and later he/she also became the head of ICC.

In Jay Shah’s case, whether it is captain Rohit Sharma, star batsman Virat Kohli or pace battery leader Jasprit Bumrah or second-line players like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, he/she manages to strike a chord with all those who want to be heard. After India’s T20 World Cup win in the West Indies this year, Rohit even called Shah one of the ‘three pillars’ that made the win possible.

When one looks at Jay Shah’s five-year tenure, he/she had to go through a very challenging phase for two years (2020 and 2021) when COVID-19 shook the world and everything came to a standstill. However, his/her biggest achievement will be considered to be the launch of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Under his/her leadership, two consecutive successful seasons of the WPL were organized and the icing on the cake was that this league is giving the highest amount of contracts in women’s T20 cricket.

his/her decision to ensure parity by paying 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 T20 match for players included in the playing XI) was a step in the right direction. Another policy decision was to promote Test cricket. India will play a 10-Test season this year and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will get match fees of Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 lakh per match including Rs 45 lakh incentives) if they play all the matches. This is just Rs 1 crore less than their A-plus central retainership contract.

This does not mean that Jay Shah did not punish when needed. he/she taught a lesson to young players who were believed to be ignoring domestic cricket and running after the riches of IPL. Both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer lost their central contracts for not prioritising domestic cricket. Another achievement of Shah is the creation of the new NCA (National Cricket Academy) which is a centre of excellence where multiple first-class matches can be held at a single venue during the domestic season.

tag: jay shah, off the ground

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