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Devajit Saikia - From Giving Up Cricket To Becoming BCCI Secretary

 

Saikia has been working as the BCCI interim secretary since Jay Shah took over as the ICC chairman on December 1. He was appointed as the BCCI Secretary on January 12

GUWAHATI: Devajit Saikia’s journey to becoming the Secretary to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is an intriguing one. While he now holds one of the most important positions in Indian cricket, Saikia admitted that sports administration was never a career he sought.

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In a candid conversation on Guwahati Connection—a YouTube-exclusive video series by GPlus in 2024, Saikia openly shared, "I was never interested in being a sports administrator." 

Saikia has been working as the BCCI interim secretary since Jay Shah took over as the ICC chairman on December 1. He was appointed as the BCCI Secretary on January 12. 

Despite his background in cricket, he emphasised that his passion was always for playing the game, not managing it. "If you look at my past, I was very active as a player for 7-8 years, playing at the highest level until I was 21. After that, for personal reasons, I gave up cricket at an early stage. It was never my intention to be an administrator in cricket or any other sport," he said.

Saikia went on to say, “I don’t enjoy being an administrator, that is a very strong statement I am making. I always love to play and be a part of the game. A player is always better than the umpire, just like a lawyer is better than a judge.”

Saikia is also serving as the Advocate General of Assam. He served as the Assam Cricket Association Secretary from 2019 until his election as BCCI joint secretary in 2022.

Watch the full conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIneFHiazCI&t=1312s

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