Jay Shah has stressed that no team is bigger than the organisation while reflecting on the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which witnessed several controversies and uncertainties before the tournament began. Speaking at an awards ceremony in Mumbai, Shah said the tournament held special significance because of the doubts and discussions surrounding participation from certain teams in the lead-up to the event.
“This ICC World Cup was very important because there was a lot of chatter before the start of the tournament about whether certain teams would participate and how the World Cup would go ahead,” Shah said.
Without naming any specific country, the ICC chairman made it clear that the global governing body is larger than any individual team.
“As ICC chairman, I can say that no team is bigger than the organisation and no single team makes an organisation. An organisation is a combination of all teams.”
Tournament faced early uncertainty
The build-up to the World Cup saw multiple controversies. Bangladesh national cricket team eventually withdrew from the competition citing security concerns, while Pakistan national cricket team had earlier threatened to boycott their high-profile clash against India national cricket team.
Despite the challenges, the tournament went ahead successfully and eventually concluded with India lifting the trophy.
Shah also highlighted the massive global response to the tournament, revealing that the event broke several viewership records.
“The World Cup has shattered all viewership records. For the first time in history, we recorded 7.2 million concurrent viewers. All records were broken in overall viewership, The USA gave India a hard time, the Netherlands troubled Pakistan, Zimbabwe beat Australia and Nepal gave England a scare. I congratulate all the associate teams, they have done very well against the full members.” – Jay Shah Said
Message to Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir
During the event, Shah also addressed India’s victorious captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir, urging them to maintain their success and plan for the future.
“I have a message for Surya and Gautam Bhai – slipping from the top to the bottom takes only months, while climbing from the bottom to the top takes years. Keep working hard and keep winning awards. When I was in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), I had planned till the 2028 Olympics. Now I am in the ICC and others are in charge at the BCCI. All of you should prepare for 2030, 2031 and even 2036.”
Shah’s legacy during BCCI tenure
Before becoming ICC chairman, Shah served as secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India from October 2019 to December 2024.
During that period, Indian cricket enjoyed a successful run across formats and age-group competitions, including:
India won two U-19 Men’s World Cups, two U-19 Women’s World Cups, finished runners-up twice in the ICC World Test Championship, were runners-up in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, and won two ICC Men’s T20 World Cup titles as well as the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.
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