ISLAMABAD: The International Cricket Council's (ICC) Chairman Jay Shah is "directly linked" to India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a way that was not happening a decade ago, Australian cricket analyst and filmmaker Jarrod Kimber said.
Speaking on Pakistan TV Digital's South Speaks with Saqib, Kimber, co-director of the 2015 documentary Death of a Gentleman on the Big Three takeover of world cricket, said the sport's governance has "probably gotten worse" since the film's release.
"He certainly is much more powerful. He's directly linked to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and to the BJP, the ruling party of India, in a way that wasn't happening when we made the film," Kimber added.
He said the chairman appears “more focused” on his own profile than on running the game.
"He seems to mostly just use the ICC social media department to make videos about himself," Kimber added.
Earlier, Wisden described the BCCI as “the sporting adjunct of India’s ruling BJP,” saying the connection was evident “long before this latest grandstanding.”
The cricket analyst added that the ICC's chief executive [Sanjog Gupta] is a former Ambani employee, and that the family's teams now span the world's franchise leagues.
"Go through all your favorite franchises in the world, chances are they own a franchise in one of those leagues," he said.
On cricket's overall governance, the Australian cricket analyst said little has improved.
"It's not as if suddenly cricket has got good global governance. It still has the same terrible global governance it had when we were making the film. It's just different," he said.
Earlier, India’s influence over international cricket has also shaped tournament arrangements. After India declined to travel to Pakistan for the 2025 Champions Trophy on government advice, the ICC adopted neutral venues for India-Pakistan matches.
Asked whether the ICC has become an "Indian Cricket Council", Kimber rejected the label, saying administrators adjust decisions in anticipation of Indian preferences before any Indian official weighs in.
"They're already pre-changing the decisions. People are making decisions based on the Indian market way more than they ever have in the history of cricket," the cricket analyst added.
Kimber said cricket's conflicts of interest exceed those of any sport he has examined, recalling that N Srinivasan's India Cements employed MS Dhoni and Rahul Dravid as vice presidents while Srinivasan ran the BCCI, and later the ICC.
"The conflict of interest level there is absolutely staggering," he added.
On finances, Kimber said no official document shows how cricket's revenue is split or how rich each board is.
"We do not know where the money goes for most cricket boards in the world, and how is that acceptable as cricket fans, when we're the ones who give them that money," he said.
India’s growing politicization of cricket has deepened concerns over the sport’s independence, as ICC Chairman Jay Shah’s close links to the BCCI and ruling BJP highlight an increasingly blurred boundary between political influence and cricket administration.
