Jay Shah listed among top 50 minds in Open magazine’s 2025 edition

July 2, 2025 by News Desk

Jay Shah, the current Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has been named among the Top 50 figures in the annual “Open Minds” list published by Open magazine.

The list includes individuals from politics, business, science, sports, and media, who are seen as influential in shaping the public narrative.

Shah, 36, is the youngest person to be appointed as the ICC chairman, a position he took over in December 2024. Prior to that, he served as the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2019 to 2024.

Before holding national-level positions, he began his cricket administration career in 2013 as the joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association. He is the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Despite his administrative rise in the sport, Jay Shah has never played professional cricket—neither for India nor for Gujarat at the domestic level.

The Open Minds list was published by Open magazine, a weekly English-language current affairs magazine based in New Delhi.

The magazine is owned by Open Media Network, which operates under the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. The Editor-in-Chief of the magazine is S. Prasannarajan, a senior journalist who has previously worked with India Today and is known for editorial positions that often align with the ruling party’s narrative. Prasannarajan took over editorial leadership of Open shortly after its launch in 2009.

Jay Shah’s inclusion in the 2025 edition of the magazine’s list appears in the “Soft Power” category, which features individuals considered to have shaped national and international discourse through their roles and visibility rather than through elected office.

The magazine notes his current role in the ICC, his previous tenure at the BCCI, and his involvement in initiatives such as the inclusion of cricket in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and the proposed revival of the Champions League T20 tournament.

The magazine lists his accomplishments in cricket administration as central to his presence on the list, which also includes names like industrialist Mukesh Ambani, politician Shashi Tharoor, and political theorist Pratap Bhanu Mehta.

Jay Shah has also served as president of the Asian Cricket Council and has been associated with several infrastructure projects in Indian cricket, including the new National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. In 2025, he received the Icon of Excellence award at the Forbes India Leadership Awards.