Arun Dhumal, Rajiv Shukla, Ashish Shelar, Rohan Jaitley Among Contenders To Succeed Jay Shah As BCCI Secretary

IPL Chairman Arun Dhumal is among the contenders to become the new Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, replacing Jay Shah, who is likely to become a new ICC Chairman later this year. The other prominent contenders are BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla, BCCI Treasurer Ashish Shelar and Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) President Rohan Jaitely.

Hyderabad:IPL Chairman Arun Singh Dhumal, BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla, BCCI Treasurer Ashish Shelar,Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) President Rohan Jaitely, son of late Arun Jaitley, are in the race to succeed Jay Shah as the BCCI Secretary once he moves to the International Cricket Council as its Chairman.

Arun Singh Dhumal, who is the brother of BJP MP and former Union Minister Anurag Thakur. Thakur was also the BCCI President. According to reliable sources, the name of Rohan Jaitely could be opposed by a section of BCCI office bearers. Ashish Shelar is the Mumbai BJP president and also MLA representing the Vande West constituency in the Maharashtra Assembly.

Shukla, a senior Congress leader and the party's Rajya Sabha MP has worked in the BCCI in numerous capacities. The 64-year-old Kanpur-born Shukla is also one of the top contenders for the post of BCCI Secretary. Sources also said that former Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya, son of former BCCI and ICC chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, could emerge as the dark horse for the BCCI Secretary.

Jay Shah reportedly has the support of 15 out of 16 members of the ICC board and therefore, his election appears a mere formality as a simple majority of nine votes is required (51%) for the winner.

The final date to submit the nomination for the ICC Chairman position is August 27. The new ICC chairman will take charge on December 1 after Greg Barclay, who decided not to stand for a third term, tenure gets over at November end.

"ICC Chair Greg Barclay confirmed to the Board that he will not stand for a third term and will step down from the post when his current tenure finishes at the end of November. Barclay was appointed as the Independent ICC Chair in November 2020, before being re-elected in 2022," the ICC stated in a media release.

Shah is currently part of the ICC’s Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) sub-committee. If Shah gets appointed at the helm, he will become the fifth Indian to head the ICC after Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar and at 35, could become the youngest ever head of the global body.

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