Jay Shah Appointed As President Of Asian Cricket Council

Indian cricket board secretary Jay Shah was on Saturday "appointed" president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) following its virtual AGM on Saturday. Shah will take over from Nazmul Hassan who is also president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

"Shah, 32, is the youngest administrator to be appointed as the ACC president," said a statement from the BCCI.

Interestingly, the BCCI statement mentioned at four places that that Shah was "appointed" ACC president while at two places it said that he was "elected".

"I accept this honour and I thank my esteemed colleagues at the BCCI for nominating me and considering me worthy of this prestigious position. Formed with a view to organise, develop and promote the sport in the region, the ACC has steadily grown in stature. The ACC continues to foster healthy rivalry among some of the biggest cricket playing nations while it also takes the sport deeper into the smaller pockets. We must remain committed to this cause and ensure there is an all-round development in the region," Shah said in the same statement.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, currently hospitalised in Kolkata with an heart ailment, congratulated Shah.

"We have worked closely, and I am well aware of his plans and vision to develop the game of cricket. I have personally experienced the zeal with which he worked to bring a turnaround in Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and North-eastern states in setting up the cricketing infrastructure and setting up the ecosystem. It is definitely a challenging phase, but I am confident he will successfully navigate the challenges posed by the [Corona] virus. The BCCI will extend every help and will play a big role in rebuilding and restructuring of the cricketing activities in Asia," he said in the statement.

Shah will be the 28th ACC president and the seventh Indian to head the body.

The previous Indian presidents included NKP Salve (1983-85), Madhavrao Scindia (1993), IS Bindra (1993-97), Jagmohan Dalmiya (2004-05), Sharad Pawar (2006) and N Srinivasan (2012-14).

This could probably be the first time that the secretary of a national cricket board has been elected ACC president when the norm is for a national board president to take over as president of the Asian body.