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Since being appointed as the secretary of BCCI in 2019, Jay Shah has been proactive in strengthening the BCCI’s financial condition and helping to grow Indian cricket as well. In particular, the Indian Premier League 2020 and 2021 have been successfully organized by BCCI in the United Arab Emirates, while the board is doing well to improve domestic cricket as well.
In the recent news development, Jay Shah has spoken on striving to revive the "Afro-Asian" project to develop Cricket in Africa. The Afro Asian Cup has been played on two occasions in 2005 and 2007, under the leadership of late BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya. As the name suggests, the tournament comprised of two teams, Africa XI and Asia XI. All the key international players from both continents took part in the tournament.
"The project will ensure that there is a real transformation at the grassroots level with age-group cricketers being the focus. The plan is formulated to give more opportunities to cricketers at U-16, U-19 and U-23 levels by having qualified coaches nurturing and mentoring them, having a strong competition layout where they have more game-time and more importantly get to test their skills against up-and-coming players from across the continent," Shah said in a statement.
The BCCI secretary knows the rising popularity of the game in Asia and is trying to use the region, its structure, and its technical expertise to strengthen the grassroots and age-group system of African Cricket. At present, the continents Asia and Africa constitute a total of 47 countries.
It has also come to notice that the African Cricket Association (AFC) has a cricket following of around 570 million, which is growing day by day. The move is set to help the ACC and AFC to prosper and give opportunities to the young players.
Shah was the youngest administrative to be chosen as the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President in 2021. In the recent ACC meeting, his tenure was unanimously extended for one more year as well.
