All eyes will be on BCCI secretary Jay Shah during the four-day ICC Annual Conference in Colombo, starting on Friday, where there might be serious discussions about when he will take over from New Zealander Greg Barclay as the chairman of the global body. The ICC conference that starts with the board meeting on Friday is expected to be dominated by losses to the tune of more than USD 20 million incurred by the global body for hosting T20 World Cup games in the United States of America.

While the nine-point agenda of the AGM (a copy of which is with the PTI) doesn’t include the event’s financial details, but it will be discussed by the board as a “post-event report”, which is a standard operating procedure.

ICC’s new external auditor appointment is also on the agenda along with discussions on ICC memberships, report from associate member’s meeting and ICC development Awards presentation.

The other important point — India not travelling to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy — is not a part of the ICC Board’s official agenda unless it is brought with permission of the chair under the section “Any Other Business”.

An ICC source privy to the developments, however, said that one of the main areas of interest for everyone at the ICC is when Shah takes over the reins of the world body.

“It is not about how but when, as he still has one year left as BCCI secretary before his cooling off period in Indian board starts in 2025 as per constitution. However, if he has to take over in 2025, then Barclay can’t complete his third term of two years from December 2024 to December 2026,” the ICC source said.

“There is a school of thought that what if ICC’s chairmanship term changes from three terms of two years each to two terms of three years, so the cumulative term can remain six years.” 

It is widely believed that if Barclay’s current term becomes three years, then Shah can complete his six years as BCCI secretary and take over as ICC chairman in 2025 for three years when he will be in cooling off in BCCI. Then in 2028, he can come back and take over as board president.