Barclay cautions ICC chairman Jay Shah not to take cricket 'under the yoke of India'

Greg Barclay, the outgoing chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC), has expressed his confidence in Jay Shah's ability to revitalise the game, which is currently facing turbulent times. 

In an interview with the Telegraph, Barclay, however, cautioned Shah, the new chairman of ICC, against taking the game "under the yoke of India".

Barclay, who stepped down as ICC Chairman on December 1 after a four-year tenure, acknowledged that the sport is navigating a period of crisis. The ICC is currently grappling with the controversy surrounding the venues for the Champions Trophy.

"I reckon, gee, I'm at the apex of the game and I can't tell you who's playing around the world. In fact, I didn't realise that Sri Lanka were in South Africa until I read about Marco Jansen's seven wickets this morning," Barclay said. 

"So we've lost perspective. It's not great for the game at all. It's a mess. The calendar is incredibly congested and self-interest is such that it's almost impossible to untangle all of that, because no one's going to give up their content."

Barclay said he hoped Shah would be able to leverage India's stature take the game out of the mess it was in. "I think he's got a great opportunity to use what he's got in his background to help India take the game to another level, but without making it sort of under the yoke of India as well," Barclay said. 

"We're really lucky to have India, they're a massive contributor to the game across all the measures, but one country having that amount of power and influence does distort a whole lot of other outcomes, which is not necessarily helpful in terms of that global growth.

"Jay has the ability to bring India into the international fold even more. There are a number of things that India could do to help unite and grow the game, including commercially helping to pool off-shore rights, using their teams to give opportunity to smaller Full Members and emerging countries, using their clout to open new territories and markets, collaborating closely with the ICC to help benefit members, as examples."