The powerful and hugely wealthy Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday elected its new boss, former player and defender Devajit Saikia, the only person nominated for the top job.
“Devajit Saikia is declared duly elected secretary of the BCCI,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.
Saikia, 55, succeeds Jay Shah, who stepped down to become president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the world governing body.
Businessman and state cricket administrator Prabhtej Singh Bhatia has been appointed treasurer of the BCCI, the board added.
Shah’s departure last month to become ICC president prompted the appointment of Saikia, who was already on the BCCI board, as interim secretary.
Saikia, unknown to fans after a modest playing career, has close ties to India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Saikia started in administration serving as general secretary of a cricket club in the northeastern state of Assam under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sarma is now the chief minister of the BJP in Assam, which has ruled India at the national level since 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Saikia and Sarma later served in the Assam state cricket association. When Sarma was elected to lead the state, he appointed Saikia as his advocate general, the government’s chief legal advisor.
Saikia was a wicketkeeper-batsman with modest performances in first-class cricket, where he played four matches for his home state, Assam, scoring only 53 runs.
