The recent elevation of Jay Shah, the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), to the chairmanship of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has shaken the sporting world. This development is going to be a major shift for the sport itself, let alone for Pakistan, as Jay Shah has clinched this prestigious post ‘unchallenged’.
Jay Shah’s term comes at a time when Pakistan is scheduled to host the much-awaited Champions Trophy in the first quarter of 2025. Due to the political turmoil between the two nations, India and Pakistan, this event was always ambiguous. The question everyone will be asking now is whether the political association of Jay Shah will influence the tournament.
Jay Shah is affiliated with the ruling party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and this has led to allegations of bias in certain decisions. His father, Amit Shah, is one of the ‘influential’ political leaders in India, and this relationship has raised questions regarding his intentions and impact on the ICC.
Perhaps one of the most crucial debatable issues about Jay Shah is that he, as the president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), approved shifting of the Asia Cup 2023 from Pakistan to Sri Lanka citing ‘security and economic’ reasons. Many critics insisted that this was a politically-motivated step to undermine Pakistan.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had severely protested against the way Jay Shah executed the announcement of the Asia Cup 2023 schedule. He released the schedule on his social media account half an hour before the PCB organized the formal launching ceremony in Lahore. This hindered the spirit and novelty of PCB’s event despite the agreement to release the schedule online only when the event had started. Such actions confirmed people’s doubts about Jay Shah’s neutrality and made them question his intentions and his role as the next chairman of the ICC.
Finally, the Asia Cup 2023 was played on both soils, with India hosting its games in Sri Lanka and all the other teams in Pakistan. This was considered by many people as being very unfair and as upsetting the spirit of the tournament to create an unfair situation for Pakistan.
Jay Shah had decided to shift the event to a different country despite the availability of many other countries who were willing to hold the matches in Pakistan, and this made people question the credibility of his impartiality.
Apart from the Asia Cup controversy, there are other statements and actions done by Jay Shah that can be considered as biased against Pakistan. These include efforts aimed at isolating Pakistan from the international cricket map and his hesitance to encourage bilateral cricket between the two countries.
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 hosted by India saw one of the most serious incidents of abuse by Pakistani fans and media. For the first time in cricket history, Pakistani fans were barred from traveling to the tournament despite having purchased and verified tickets. So, this was heavily criticized as a deliberate plan to reduce Pakistani support for their team.
It got worse as the tournament advanced; only a few Pakistani journalists were able to secure visas when the tournament was in its final stages. This lack of access was highly detrimental to their ability to cover the event directly from India, thereby prompting allegations of censorship and bias. It brought out the longstanding political rivalry between the two countries and questioned the role of the ICC in fostering an international and diverse spirit of cricketing nations.
This also means that the Champions Trophy would become a considerable problem for Jay Shah. This is because the success of the tournament depends on the involvement of all the cricket-playing countries, including India. However, if the Indian team decides not to travel to Pakistan because of security issues, the credibility of this event could be at stake.
Today, the major issue is whether Jay Shah, having a history and experience of bias, would be able to do justice and make sure that Pakistan cricket is not exploited. His period of leadership will be measured not only by how he leads the team in the Champions Trophy but also by his contribution to the management of cricket globally. Therefore, it will be important for him to properly balance his relations as every cricketing nation, including Pakistan, expects its representative to safeguard its interests.
Jay Shah’s appointment as the chairman of ICC is a moment of both opportunities and threats. On the positive side, there is the possibility of a balanced consideration of Pakistan cricket, but at the same time, there are concerns due to past controversies. Before entering a new chapter of his career, Jay Shah and the cricketing community will be keenly observing him to see how he tackles these issues and finds ways to promote change.
Depending on how successful Jay Shah will be as the chairman of ICC, he will have to be fair to all the cricket-playing nations. He has to be impartial and cannot make any decision that benefits India or any other country to the detriment of others.