Bengaluru. The members present at the 93rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) here on Sunday requested current secretary Jay Shah to expedite the process of finding his successor to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Shah is expected to step down from his post in the last week of November. He will hold the post of President of the International Cricket Council (ICC) for a period of three years from December 1. Selection of new secretary was not on the AGM agenda. It is learned that the members present discussed the succession plan among themselves to keep the process transparent.
“It was a general request to implement all due processes as soon as possible as this will give clarity for us,” a state association representative who attended the AGM told PTI. Apart from this, we also have some big events coming up like the IPL auction. In this situation it should not happen that everything has to be handled at the same time.” In the current situation, Delhi and District Cricket Association President Rohan Jaitley, BCCI Treasurer Ashish Shelar, Joint Secretary Devjit Saikia and Gujarat Cricket Association Secretary Anil Patel are the candidates who are in the race to become Shah’s successor. If no hidden gem comes forward in the further stages of the selection process, then one of these names will become Shah’s successor.
With no secretary election on the agenda, the main draft of the AGM was to name two representatives of India in the ICC meetings. Currently, Shah is the BCCI representative on the ICC Board and IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal is on the Chief Executive Committee.
The AGM has tasked the general body members to soon recommend two names (director and alternate director) for the posts as the ICC has also scheduled a conference in Dubai right after the final of the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup.
Arun Singh Dhumal and Avishek Dalmiya were elected as the general body representatives for the IPL Governing Committee (GC), PTI reported on Saturday. Dhumal was sure to continue as the league president at least till IPL 2025. Former Andhra cricketer V. Chamundeswarnath was named as the players’ representative by the Indian Players Association (ICA) and was included in the IPL GC.
BCCI said in a release, “The members of the general body also appreciated the efforts of the office-bearers for the work done at the Center of Excellence near Bengaluru International Airport. A 17-minute video was also shown at the AGM in which Shah was praised for his contribution to Indian cricket as the board’s secretary. VVS Laxman, head of the Center of Excellence (formerly National Cricket Academy), also praised Shah for his visionary effort in turning the project into reality.
“He had set a deadline and ensured that everyone followed it,” Laxman said at a select gathering at the Center of Excellence on Sunday. Apart from this, the AGM confirmed the annual budget for the 2024-25 season and the members unanimously resolved to maintain the legal status of BCCI as a society.
The statement said, “The members further resolved that BCCI tournaments including IPL will not be converted into one company.”