Fees of women cricketers increased, WPL started, a lesson for players running after money, this is how Jai Shah made his presence felt

Those who have seen Jay Shah's style of functioning in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as secretary are not surprised by his rise to this level. Shah's formal entry into cricket administration came in 2009, when he started working at the district level with the Central Cricket Board Ahmedabad (CBCA). He then moved to state-level administration as an executive of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) and eventually became its joint secretary in 2013.

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Jay Shah has a good relationship with the players on a personal level. This does not mean that former ICC chiefs from India did not have a good equation with the players. Jagmohan Dalmiya and N Srinivasan were businessmen and became successful administrators. Seasoned politician Sharad Pawar knew the point of view of trusted senior players during his tenure as BCCI president and later he also became the head of ICC.

In Jay Shah's case, be it skipper Rohit Sharma, star batsman Virat Kohli or pacer Jasprit Bumrah or second-line players like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya, he manages to strike a chord with everyone who wants to listen. After India's T20 World Cup win in the West Indies this year, Rohit called Shah one of the 'three pillars' that made the victory possible.

Looking at Jay Shah's five-year tenure, he had to go through a very challenging period for two years (2020 and 2021), when COVID-19 shook the whole world and everything came to a standstill. However, his biggest achievement will be considered the launch of the Women's Premier League (WPL). Under his leadership, two consecutive successful seasons of WPL were organized and the biggest thing is that this league is giving the highest number of contracts in women's T20 cricket.

His decision to ensure parity by paying equal match fees to the Indian women's cricket team (Rs 15 lakh per Test, Rs 8 lakh per ODI and Rs 4 lakh per T20 match for players included in the playing XI) was a step in the right direction. Another policy decision was to promote Test cricket. India will play a 10-Test season this year and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will get match fees of Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 lakh per match including Rs 45 lakh incentives) if they play all the matches. This is just Rs 1 crore less than their A-plus central retainership contracts.

This does not mean that Jay Shah did not dish out punishment when needed. He taught a lesson to young players who were believed to be ignoring domestic cricket and running after the riches of IPL. Both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer lost their central contracts for not prioritising domestic cricket. Another achievement of Shah is the creation of the new NCA (National Cricket Academy) which is a centre of excellence where multiple first-class matches can be held at one place during the domestic season.

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