ICC chairman Jay Shah to be felicitated by BCCI at its SGM on Sunday, say sources

New Delhi, Jan 10 (IANS) Jay Shah, Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), is set to be felicitated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the sidelines of its Special General Meeting (SGM), scheduled to be held in its headquarters on Sunday. 

Sources in the BCCI have confirmed to IANS that Shah, formerly the BCCI secretary who took over as ICC Chairman on December 1, will be felicitated during the board’s SGM. “Shah, though, will not be sitting in the meeting, where the new BCCI Secretary and Treasurer will be formally elected," added the sources.

The SGM will see Devajit Saikia and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia being elected unopposed as the new BCCI secretary and treasurer respectively. Saikia and Bhatia are the only names in the final list of contesting candidates released by Achal Kumar Jyoti, the BCCI electoral officer who previously served as the Chief Election Commissioner of India.

Saikia, hailing from Assam, is currently the BCCI joint secretary, a post he’s held since October 2022. Saikia, who played four first-class games for Assam as a wicketkeeper-batter and is also the state’s advocate general, has been serving as the acting BCCI secretary after Shah took over as ICC Chairman. His elevation to the all-important secretary’s post will leave the joint secretary’s post vacant and is slated to be filled via another election process.

On the other hand, Bhatia will step into the treasurer’s role after his predecessor Ashish Shelar left the post after being inducted as a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra state government. Bhatia hails from the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh (CSCS) and has served as its president, apart from having a stint previously in the BCCI Apex Council.

Sources have also said to IANS that an official decision on the WPL 2025 venues will be known after Sunday’s SGM. IANS understands that names of Vadodara and Lucknow have been doing the rounds as WPL 2025 venues, with speculations of Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Pune also in the fray to host matches.

But sources have said a formal decision on venues for WPL 2025, likely to start from first week of February, will be known to the concerned state units after the SGM is over. Lucknow has the Ekana Stadium, which regularly hosts’ IPL matches of Lucknow Super Giants, apart from being host to domestic matches and international games.

Meanwhile, Vadodara has the new Kotambi Stadium, which hosted the India-West Indies women’s ODIs last month and is currently playing host to knockout matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai hosted WPL 2023, while Bengaluru and New Delhi were WPL 2024 venues.