ICC draws criticism for Jay Shah-centric WTC Final highlights

KARACHI: The International Cricket Council is under fire for disproportionately featuring chairman Jay Shah in the WTC Final highlights, which overshadowed South Africa's historic victory over Australia at Lord's.

The 45-second promotional video has drawn widespread mockery for prioritising the administrator over the athletes who decided the match.

The controversial video opens with a panoramic shot of Lord's before abruptly cutting to Shah's grand entrance.

An analysis reveals the chairman appeared 11 times in the 23-shot sequence, including multiple close-ups of him clapping and observing.

In contrast, Player of the Match Aiden Markram was shown just twice, while Australian captain Pat Cummins appeared only briefly.

South Africa's winning captain Temba Bavuma featured five times — fewer than half of Shah's appearances.

"How many runs did Jay Shah score in this final? How many wickets?" asked Sri Lankan journalist Andrew Fidel Fernando, capturing the prevailing sentiment.

Indian reporter Kuldip Lal called the video "unbelievable," while British analyst Aatif Nawaz quipped it appeared "self-edited on a mobile phone" by Shah himself.

The editorial choices seemed particularly misguided given the match's drama.

Kagiso Rabada's nine-wicket match haul and Markram's fourth-innings century — both pivotal to South Africa's maiden Test championship title — received less emphasis than Shah adjusting his jacket.

"Blink during this video and you'll miss Cummins completely — but Jay Shah? Impossible," noted Australian journalist Andrew Wu.

UAE-based sports writer Paul Radley observed the video made it appear "Jay Shah was player of the match," while UK journalist Charlie Reynolds pointed out Shah's 11 appearances matched the combined screen time given to South Africa's entire team.

The controversy follows other questionable ICC decisions under Shah's leadership, including last year's Champions Trophy relocation and an increasingly India-centric tournament schedule.

Notably, the ICC social media team had days earlier posted a separate video focused solely on Shah's activities at Lord's during the opening day of the final.