No one is bigger than ICC: Jay Shah gives strong clarification on Bangladesh-Pakistan dispute

New Delhi. ICC Chairman Jay Shah has given a clear statement for the first time regarding the controversies involving Bangladesh and Pakistan during the T20 World Cup 2026. He said that no country or team is bigger than the International Cricket Council (ICC). Jay Shah said this at an event organized in Mumbai, in which a felicitation ceremony was organized for Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav and coach Gautam Gambhir.

Before the T20 World Cup 2026, Bangladesh had withdrawn from the tournament citing security reasons. At the same time, Pakistan Cricket Board had refused to play the match against India on the instructions of its government. However, later Pakistan played a match with India and the Indian team registered a spectacular victory in that match. ICC Chairman Jay Shah handled this entire controversy diplomatically. Jay Shah said that ICC is an organization, which is a combination of all the teams, and no one country or team is bigger than this institution.

Jai Shah said that this tournament has broken many records in the history of cricket. The Indian team created a record by winning the T20 World Cup title for the second consecutive time and India became the first team to win the World Cup for the third time. With this, India now has the maximum number of ICC T20 World Cup trophies. Jay Shah said, “This event of the ICC World Cup was very important. Before the tournament, there was a lot of discussion about which teams would participate and how the World Cup would be organized. But all in all, the tournament was successful.”

He further said that the World Cup has broken all viewership records. For the first time in history, 7.2 million viewers enjoyed the match simultaneously. Jai Shah appreciated all the Associate and Full Member teams. He said that in the tournament, USA gave a tough competition to India, Netherlands challenged Pakistan, Zimbabwe defeated Australia and Nepal gave a scare to England. This shows that no team can be underestimated in cricket anymore.

Jay Shah also made it clear that the strength and importance of ICC does not come from any one team but from the combination of all the teams. He said, the objective of ICC is to promote the game and ensure competition among all teams. No team is bigger than the organization.

Speaking at the event, Jay Shah praised ICC’s role, security protocols and the successful conduct of the tournament and also said that every step was taken to ensure the safety of all teams and players. Despite the controversies between Bangladesh and Pakistan, the tournament was successful and the spectators enjoyed exciting matches.

Thus, this statement by Jay Shah not only underlines the supremacy of ICC but also makes it clear that the institutional rules and organization in cricket are always above individual countries or teams.