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\u201cV<\/span>isuals that the whole nation will remember for ages,\u201d reads the social media post<\/a> by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, introducing a 37-second video clip. It captures the celebrations after India\u2019s T20 World Cup triumph<\/a> in Ahmedabad last month, a victory built by an astounding squad<\/a>; strong enough to exclude names such as Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, nerveless enough to thump 255 in the final against New Zealand. But one man in a suit dominates the footage: Jay Shah.<\/p>\n The chair of the International Cricket Council<\/a> (ICC) is in most of the shots, embracing the players and soaking in the moment alongside their head coach, Gautam Gambhir. He is all smiles alongside former India captains Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni, and at one point there is a frame of him on his own holding the trophy. He goes on to help Suryakumar Yadav lift it. Shah is not the honorary secretary of the BCCI any more; the whole sport is his responsibility. Yet here he was, transformed into the protagonist of a story that did not belong to him.<\/p>\n Such pageantry is nothing new for an administrator who, even at 37, has run things for a while. Shah became BCCI secretary in 2019 before ascending to his ICC position five years later. That is great power on its own, before considering the political backdrop. His father is Amit Shah, India\u2019s home affairs minister and the right-hand man of Narendra Modi, the country\u2019s prime minister.<\/p>\n That power is projected online by the social media handles of the sport\u2019s governing body and its most influential national board. When Shah attended last year\u2019s World Test Championship final at Lord\u2019s, the ICC posted a montage of the final day<\/a> as South Africa finally threw away their \u201cchokers\u201d tag to win a global title, a moment of absolution. Yet Shah appeared overwhelmingly dominant once again, slow-mos of him in the stands \u2013 one frame is focused on the back of his head \u2013 mixed in with the winning runs. Another clip shared by the ICC followed him around on day one<\/a>, the great and the good of the game always close by.<\/p>\n When the Indian Express last month listed Shah as No 22 on its 100-strong list of the most powerful Indians (up from 24th in 2025), the ICC promoted the news on X<\/a> alongside an adoring message: \u201cIt is said that power and responsibility go hand-in-hand. This recognition is well-deserved and one that will definitely motivate our chairman @JayShah<\/a> to strive harder towards loftier goals for the sport.\u201d The BCCI made its own graphic<\/a> to share the news, listing the positions of Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli and Gambhir, too \u2013 all ranked way below Shah.<\/p>\n An image is being formed that cricket has been blessed with a brilliant administrator taking it to extraordinary heights. Shah, of course, can point to the revolutionary Women\u2019s Premier League, established during his time at the BCCI, to the rude health of India\u2019s national teams, to the construction of a gargantuan stadium in Gujarat named after his father\u2019s political partner.<\/p>\n