Jay Shah

Jay Amitbhai Shah (born 22 September 1988) is an Indian businessman and cricket administrator. He became the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary in 2019. He is also the president of Asian Cricket Council. He is the son of Amit Shah, India's Minister of Home Affairs.

Early life

Jay Shah was born to Amit Shah, an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Sonal Shah on 22 September 1988.

Career

After serving as an executive board member of the Central Board of Cricket, Ahmedabad, starting 2009, Shah became the joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) in September 2013. During his tenure as joint secretary, he oversaw GCA's construction of the Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad, along with his father Amit Shah who was GCA president at the time.

Shah became a member of the finance and marketing committees of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2015. He stepped down from the position of GCA joint secretary in September 2019. The following month, he was elected as the secretary of BCCI, the youngest of the five office bearers. In October 2022, Shah was re-elected as Secretary of BCCI.

In 2022, Jay Shah led BCCI's record breaking Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights deal, where the 5 year rights for the league were sold for a total of Rs 48,390 crore, making the IPL the 2nd most valued sporting league in the world (1st being the National Football League) in terms of per match value.

In January 2021, Asian Cricket Council appointed Shah as President. In January 2024, Shah was re-elected as Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president. The ACC top spot is rotated among full-members in Asia. It was going to be Sri Lanka's turn next, but Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) chief Shammi Silva proposed Shah's extension, which the other members accepted.

In December 2019, the BCCI selected Shah as its representative for future CEC meetings of International Cricket Council. In April 2022, Jay Shah was also appointed as ICC Board Member Representative and in November 2022, Shah was elected as the head of ICC's all powerful Finance and Commercial Affairs (F&CA) committee at the board meeting.

Shah had also been instrumental within the ICC Olympics Working Group, in sealing cricket's participation in 2028 Olympics. He was a strong advocate of including it in the Commonwealth Games and recent Asian Games, and will now historically be part of the Olympic Games for the first time ever.

Personal life

In February 2015, Shah married Rishita Patel, his college girlfriend, in a traditional Gujarati ceremony. The wedding was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other high-ranking public officials.

Controversies

Shah filed a criminal defamation case and a civil lawsuit of ₹100 crore against the editors of The Wire who, in an October 2017 article, reported that Shah's company's revenue increased 16,000 times one year after Narendra Modi became the Indian Prime Minister. In 2018, the Gujarat High Court restored a gag order, earlier placed by a civil court, on the website, preventing it from publishing any content connecting Shah's businesses to Modi. In August 2019, The Wire withdrew its appeal against the criminal defamation case and announced that it will stand trial.

Recognitions

• On 5 December 2023, The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, Jay Shah, was awarded 'Sports Business Leader of the Year', during the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Sports Business Awards 2023 for guiding the richest cricket board in introducing a new league (Women's Premier League) and successfully hosting a World Cup at home.
• On 11 May 2023, Jay Shah was awarded 'Game Changer of the Year' at the CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards (IBLA).
• The Indian Express 2024 List of Most Powerful Indians (the IE 100), ranks Jay Shah at #35 most powerful Indian in 2024.

In popular culture

• In 2021, Jay Shah was featured in an episode of History TV18's documentary Modern Marvels, the episode was about the Narendra Modi Stadium's construction.