Jay Shah set to take cricket's top job (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)Getty Images

It’s been cricket’s worst kept secret. All-powerful Jay Shah is set to ascend to world cricket’s top post after International Cricket Council incumbent chair Greg Barclay confirmed that he would not be seeking a third term to his tenure.

As I flagged last month, Shah, the sport's most influential administrator as notably illustrated when he took center stage after India's T20 World Cup triumph, will put his hand up to run the ICC board - where the power lies in world cricket.

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Barclay’s second two-year term ends in November. He could have run one more time even though the chair's tenure changed from a maximum of three two-year terms to two terms lasting three years each.

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah (l) is set to replace Greg Barclay (r) as ICC chair (Photo by Gareth ... [+] Copley/Getty Images)Getty Images

But on Tuesday night he told the ICC board that he would not recontest. According to a report in The Age, Shah has informed Barclay of his intention to replace him and that he had the numbers to do so.

As I reported last month, veteran board directors Imran Khwaja, who ran against Barclay in a divisive chair election in 2020, and Tavengwa Mukuhlani - who pulled out of contesting the 2022 contest - had long ago decided not to run knowing the writing was on the wall.

Everyone knew that if Shah ran he would have the majority of support given money-spinner’s India’s almighty heft in the sport they completely dominate financially.

Shah, whose father Amit Shah is India's minister of home affairs and the right-hand man to prime minster Narendra Modi, became India's cricket governing body's secretary in 2019, but isn't eligible to run for its role of president until 2028.

Jay Shah has eyed the ICC chair for some time (Photo by Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty ... [+] Images)Hindustan Times via Getty Images

In the meantime, the opportunity presents for Shah to rule the ICC officially - there are those who believe he already holds sway in global affairs as leader of cricket's richest and most powerful governing body. He also heads the ICC's powerful Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee.

As I reported last month, Shah's shadow was present during the recent Associate election campaign. It is learned that he was active behind the scenes, seemingly wanting his preferred candidates on a board that he intended to soon run.

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Khwaja, Mubashshir Usmani, who had been sitting on the influential Chief Executives' Committee and is at the helm of the Emirates Cricket Board, and Mahinda Vallipuram won the three coveted positions on the ICC board.

Vallipuram, the former Malaysia chief who lost his spot on the board in 2022, has worked closely alongside Shah on the Asian Cricket Council.

With Shah to put his hand up, the usual mud-slinging chair campaign will be absent this time around in a takeover that has been a long time coming.