ICC chairman Jay Shah palms over the ICC Check Championship Mace to South Africa’s Temba Bavuma as they pose for {a photograph} on the rostrum, Lord’s Cricket Floor, London, Britain, June 14, 2025. — Reuters
KARACHI: The Worldwide Cricket Council is dealing with intense criticism after releasing World Check Championship Remaining highlights that disproportionately featured chairman Jay Shah, overshadowing South Africa’s historic victory over Australia at Lord’s.
The 45-second promotional video has drawn widespread mockery for prioritising the administrator over the athletes who determined the match.
The controversial video opens with a panoramic shot of the Lord’s earlier than abruptly chopping to Shah’s grand entrance.
An evaluation reveals the chairman appeared 11 instances within the 23-shot sequence, together with a number of close-ups of him clapping and observing.
In distinction, Participant of the Match Aiden Markram was proven simply twice, whereas Australian captain Pat Cummins appeared solely briefly.
South Africa’s profitable captain Temba Bavuma featured 5 instances — fewer than half of Shah’s appearances.
“How many runs did Jay Shah score in this final? How many wickets?” requested Sri Lankan journalist Andrew Fidel Fernando, capturing the prevailing sentiment.
Indian reporter Kuldip Lal referred to as the video “unbelievable,” whereas British analyst Aatif Nawaz quipped it appeared “self-edited on a mobile phone” by Shah himself.
The editorial decisions appeared significantly misguided given the match’s drama.
Kagiso Rabada’s nine-wicket match haul and Markram’s fourth-innings century — each pivotal to South Africa’s maiden Check championship title — obtained much less emphasis than Shah adjusting his jacket.
“Blink during this video and you’ll miss Cummins completely — but Jay Shah? Impossible,” famous Australian journalist Andrew Wu.
UAE-based sports activities author Paul Radley noticed the video made it seem “Jay Shah was player of the match,” whereas UK journalist Charlie Reynolds identified Shah’s 11 appearances matched the mixed display screen time given to South Africa’s complete crew.
The controversy follows different questionable ICC choices underneath Shah’s management, together with final 12 months’s Champions Trophy relocation and an more and more India-centric match schedule.
Notably, the ICC social media crew had days earlier posted a separate video centered solely on Shah’s actions at Lord’s through the opening day of the ultimate.
