ICC chairman Jay Shah emphasized that no team is bigger than the organisation, reflecting the recent success of the T20 World Cup despite uncertainties ahead of the tournament. He highlighted the broken viewership records and congratulated the affiliate teams for their strong performances. Shah also urged the Indian captain and coach to maintain their winning streak and plan for future tournaments. Jay Shah emphasized that no team is bigger than the organization as he reflected on the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which witnessed several controversies and uncertainties before the start of the tournament. Speaking at the awards ceremony in Mumbai, Shah said the tournament has special significance because of doubts and debates over the participation of certain teams in the build-up to the event.“This ICC World Cup was very important because there was a lot of talk before the tournament started about whether certain teams would participate and how the World Cup would play out,” said Shah.
Jay Shah: Kapil Dev deserves more credit for the 1983 World Cup triumph
Without naming a specific country, the ICC president made it clear that the global governing body is bigger than any individual team.“As the ICC chairman, I can say that no team is bigger than an organization and no team makes an organization. An organization is a combination of all teams.”
The tournament faced initial uncertainty
The build-up to the World Cup saw several controversies. The Bangladesh national cricket team eventually pulled out of the competition due to security concerns, while the Pakistan national cricket team had earlier threatened to boycott their high-profile clash against the Indian national cricket team.Despite the challenges, the tournament continued successfully and eventually ended with India lifting the trophy.World Cup breaks viewership recordsShah also highlighted the massive global response to the tournament and revealed that the event broke several viewership records.“The World Cup broke all viewership records. We had 7.2 million concurrent viewers for the first time in history. All records were broken for total viewership, the USA beat India, the Netherlands troubled Pakistan, Zimbabwe beat Australia and Nepal scared England. Congratulations to all the affiliated teams, they did very well against the regular members.” – Jay Shah said
Message to Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir
During the event, Shah also addressed India’s winning captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir and urged them to continue their success and plan for the future.“I have a message for Surya and Gautam Bhai – it only takes months to slide from the top to the bottom, while it takes years to climb from the bottom to the top. Work hard and win awards. When I was in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), I planned till the 2028 Olympics. Now I am in the ICC and others should be in charge of 22031BC3CI. and even 2036.”Shah’s legacy during BCCI tenureBefore becoming the ICC chairman, Shah served as the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India from October 2019 to December 2024.During this period, Indian cricket enjoyed a successful run across formats and age group competitions, including:India have won two Men’s Under-19 World Cups, two Women’s Under-19 World Cups, finished as runners-up in the ICC Cricket World Cup twice, 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.
