BCCI secretary Jay Shah is all set to mount the saddle as the next ICC Chairman, although there remains no clarity on whether he has decided to file his nomination for the post. Numbers surely favour the 35-year-old, who has the backing of almost 15 of the 16 members in the ICC board, but has less than 24 hours to decide on join the world governing body, with the last date for filing nomination being August 27. However, the bigger questions remains, who would replace Shah in BCCI?
According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar on Monday, Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) president Rohan Jaitley has emerged as the strongest contender to replace Shah as the new BCCI secretary and there is a general consensus over his name in the Indian board.
Who is Rohan Jaitley?
Rohan, born in New Delhi, is the son of late Arun Jaitley, a politician who served as India's Finance Minister. Following the footsteps of his father, Rohan too became a lawyer, who focuses on cases before the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court, and earlier this year was named as a Central Government Standing Counsel for the Delhi High Court.
Rohan became involved in cricket administration about four years back when he was elected as the new president of the DDCA, a position his father held for 14 years, and earlier this year, he was re-elected unopposed for a second term. Under his administration, Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium hosted five ODI World Cup matches last year and has successfully organised the inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League this year, where some of the big names like Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma are participating.
{{/usCountry}}Rohan became involved in cricket administration about four years back when he was elected as the new president of the DDCA, a position his father held for 14 years, and earlier this year, he was re-elected unopposed for a second term. Under his administration, Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium hosted five ODI World Cup matches last year and has successfully organised the inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League this year, where some of the big names like Rishabh Pant, Ishant Sharma are participating.
{{/usCountry}}Besides his experience in cricket administration, one of the big reasons behind Rohan emerging a strong candidate to replace Shah is because Arun had a good influence in the BCCI, where he once served as the vice-president.
Who are Rohan Jaitley's likely competitors?
With Shah yet to decide on filing the nomination for ICC chairmanship, there is no official clarity on his successor for the BCCI secretary post. However, a PTI report on Saturday did hint at other likely competitors for Rohan in former CAB president Avishek Dalmiya and other young state unit officials include Punjab's Dilsher Khanna, Goa's Vipul Phadke and Chattisgarh's Prabhtej Bhatia, a former IPL Governing Council member. But will BCCI appoint a completely new face for the job?
"Obviously, it can happen as there are no hard and fast rules. But if you look at BCCI's power structure, president, secretary and treasurer are three key posts," said a former BCCI secretary.
"There are people who have been in the system and someone just coming and bypassing them normally doesn't happen. But first, is Jay ready to go to the ICC? Even if he doesn't go now, he can go anytime," he added.