Who is Devajit Saikia? New BCCI secretary who takes charge after Jay Shah's tenure

Former cricketer Devajit Saikia has been appointed as the new secretary of the BCCI. The post fell vacant after former secretary Shah took over as ICC chairman last month.

Saikia has been serving as interim secretary of the BCCI since Jay Shah's departure on December 1. The BCCI constitution stipulates that any vacancy should be filled within 45 days by convening an SGM, and Sunday's meeting fell well within that timeframe, as it was held on the 43rd day.

Along with Saikia, Prabhtej Singh Bhatia was also officially elected as the BCCI treasurer at the BCCI Special General Meeting (SGM) on Sunday. Bhatia replaces Ashish Shelar, who recently resigned from the post after taking up a position in the Maharashtra government. Notably, Saikia and Prabhtej were the only candidates in the fray for the vacant posts after the BCCI's returning officer and former CEC of India, Achal Kumar Joti, finalised the list on Tuesday.

BCCI Vice-president Rajeev Shukla, while confirming Saikia's appointment, said (as quoted by ANI), "Devajit Saikia elected new BCCI secretary and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia elects as BCCI treasurer...IPL is going to start from 23rd March..."

Who is Devajit Saikia?

Devajit Saikia had a very short cricketing career, playing just four first-class matches between 1990 and 1991, scoring 53 runs and taking 9 wickets. After his cricketing days, Saikia became a lawyer at the age of 28 and started practising in the Guwahati High Court.

The 55-year-old made his foray into cricket administration in 2016, but he insists that he never wanted to be in administration, but was " compelled" to take up the role after seeing corruption in Assam's cricket administration.

In an interaction with broadcasters last year, Saikia said, "It was never my intention to be a cricket or sports administrator. Even today I don't like being an administrator,"

BCCI secretary's meeting with Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir:

Meanwhile, new BCCI secretary Saikia and president Roger Binny sat down with India head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma for over two hours at a five-star hotel in Mumbai on Saturday.

According to a BCCI source quoted by news agency PTI, the meeting included a detailed discussion on the Indian team's performance in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, what went wrong and the course correction required. However, the report added that a knee-jerk reaction from the new BCCI dispensation is not expected with the Champions Trophy 2025 just a few weeks away.