Cricket News Desk. All eyes will be on BCCI Secretary Jay Shah during the four-day annual conference of the ICC starting on Friday in Colombo. The meeting may see a serious debate on when New Zealand's Greg Barclay will take over as the president of the global body. The ICC conference, which begins with the board meeting on Friday, is expected to discuss the loss of more than US $ 20 million suffered by the global body on hosting the T20 World Cup matches in the US. Although the financial details of the tournament are not included in the nine-point agenda of the AGM, it will be discussed by the board in the 'post-event report' which is standard operating procedure.

It is difficult to even discuss the Champions Trophy
The agenda includes discussions on ICC membership, Associate Members Meeting report and ICC Development Awards presentation as well as appointment of ICC's new external auditor. Another important issue – India not touring Pakistan for the Champions Trophy – is not part of the ICC Board's official agenda unless it is brought under the 'any other business' category with the permission of the chairman. However, an ICC source in the know of the matter said that everyone in the ICC is mainly concerned about when Shah will take charge of the global body.

An ICC source said, “It is not about how but when as he still has a year left as BCCI secretary after which, as per the constitution, his cooling off period at the Indian board will begin in 2025. However, if he takes over in 2025, Barclay will not be able to complete his third two-year term from December 2024 to December 2026.”

“One idea is if the ICC president's term is changed from two-year terms to three-year terms, assuming the total term is only six years,” he said. If Barclay's current term is three years, Shah can complete six years as BCCI secretary and then become ICC president for three years in 2025 when his break from the BCCI begins. He can then return to the BCCI in 2028 and become the board's president.