"He has delivered great results, taken India into the ICC...": Lalit Modi on Jay Shah's efforts as global cricket body's chairman

The former IPL chairman was speaking to ANI. Jay Shah, the former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, took over ICC's top post in December 2024.

Speaking to ANI about the contribution of Jay Shah in ICC and in uplifting the status of Indian cricket within it, he said, "I think his contribution has been great from what I see from the outside. Contribution is by access and by getting things done. He is the son of who he is. I'm the son of my grandfather and my father. And I got things done in my life because of my connections."

"He started doing that and has been able to... You know a person by the results that he delivers. He has delivered great results. And has taken India into the ICC. When we ran the ICC...We had problems. We had forces against us. England, Australia, everybody, they would gang up. Mr Pawar (Sharad Pawar, ICC president from 2010-2012) and I, when I was there, we had four people with us. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Today, Pakistan is gone. So now we have the rest of the world with us and the ICC. But Mr Shah has been able to navigate that and take this forward," he added.

Lalit also said that Jay is "running a declining business in ICC".

"Only business that works today is Indian cricket. No other board works. So when you say cricket is bigger than anything, yes, Indian cricket is bigger than anything," he added.

Further speaking on accusations made against BCCI for its dominance within world cricket, he defended it.

"I do not care and I defend it. Simple as that. 30 years ago, England ran everything. 50 years ago, England ran everything. 100 years ago, England ran everything. They would throw you a tukda, chota tukda fenk diya. (That is what I am saying. I think we should be bigger than everybody else. My suggestion is, the money that comes from the ICC, give it to others. What will they do with it? One IPL match produces even more money than that. The money that you make from the ICC will be a pittance," he suggested boldly.

Further, he continued, "It used to be 50 per cent of our revenue when I started. BCCI was another 50 per cent of our revenue. Today, IPL is the 90 per cent of the revenue. So why do we care about anybody else's revenue? And everybody else's revenue is shrinking. Today, the sports have become so wide. But when it becomes wide, also lots of other sports have come in," he added.

Lalit is right about India's domination in world cricket due to the impact of the cash-rich IPL and the nation producing several superstars like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi over the years. As per ESPNCricinfo, BCCI, under 2024-27 commercial cycle, is earning 38.5 per cent of ICC's annual earnings, with no other board having a double-digit share in terms of percentage.

Under Jay Shah, the ICC has organised several high-profile tournaments such as the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup, 2026 ICC U19 World Cup and ICC Men's T20 World Cup this year. Team India has also been a dominant force on the field, having all these aforementioned white ball titles to their name, making it a limited-overs cricket superpower.

Also, under Jay, a hybrid model to host India and Pakistan's matches at neutral venues during tournaments hosted by these two nations was also approved for the 2024-27 tournaments cycle. The India-Pakistan cricketing ties have been extremely tense over last few years due to strained political relations. (ANI).