Mumbai: A congregation of 220 delegates from 108 ICC member countries from across continents will get together for this year’s four-day International Cricket Council (ICC) annual conference, starting Friday on Sri Lankan shores.

But like all things cricket these days, the focus of attention will be the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its influential administrator Jay Shah – whether he is willing to get into canvassing mode and throw his hat in the ring to become the governing body’s next Chairman.

‘Capitalising on the Olympic Opportunity’ and ‘Cricket’s triumphant return at LA28’ is one of the themes of the gathering. But before cricket takes its next step in United States, there will be a review of the poor conduct of the recently concluded T20 World Cup in the same country.

A sum of reportedly $20 million exceeded the operational costs laid out for the event, poor pitches, sub-par crowds because of exorbitant ticketing rates marred the USA leg of the 2024 T20 World Cup co-hosted by West Indies. ICC director Pankaj Khimji has written to the board for a thorough audit of spendings.

In this light, a couple of senior ICC officials including head of events Chris Tetley have already resigned. The matter is likely to come up under the ‘Any other business’ head, which is generally where the most important discussions take place.

India’s travel to Pakistan for the 2025 ODI Champions Trophy will also come up for discussion as will the proposed schedule (Feb 19-March 9) for which has been sent by host Pakistan Cricket Board to the ICC.

But India’s proposed matches in Lahore will mean little, unless the Indian government gives a go-ahead for its team to travel to Pakistan. Chances of this are ‘remote’, as per a BCCI official. There may not be much headway at this stage even if PCB seeks clarity on the matter inside the ICC boardroom.

If the BCCI has its way, the tournament would be reshaped into a hybrid model with UAE or Sri Lanka coming in as co-hosts. But that process too may be pushed back to another day.

On Jay Shah’s interest for the ICC Chair, the BCCI secretary would like to move, not because it’s a bigger post but because the BCCI constitution mandates a cooling-off period, following two three-year terms. His current stint in the BCCI ends in late 2025, but the ICC elections are due this November. Shah may want to make the move now, although, he has been unwilling to reveal his cards so far.

There’s also a school of thought that the revised ICC constitution – two three-year terms for Chairman from three two-year terms – can be applicable to Barclay now itself. That way the ICC elections can be pushed back to another year and Shah can take over in 2025. An ICC board member ‘refuted’ such a possibility for now.

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