Jay Shah served as the BCCI secretary from October 24, 2019. In August 2024, he was elected unopposed as the new ICC chair, and assumed his new responsibilities from December 1, 2024. The BCCI are yet to name Shah’s full-time successor, but they have now named an Saikia as an interim secretary.

Saikia rose through age-group cricket in Assam, and graduated to Ranji Trophy. From four first-class matches, all of them in 1990-91, he made 53 runs at 8.83 with a highest score of 8.83, and had eight catches and a stumping.

From there, he made his foray into sports administration. In 2008, he became the secretary of the Gauhati Town Club. In 2016, when the Assam Cricket Association (ACA) underwent a revamp, Saikia was named one of the six vice-presidents. He later became the ACA secretary.

An eminent lawyer, Saikia was appointed the 18th advocate general of Assam in 2021. Before that, he had represented the Indian Lawyers cricket team to Sri Lanka in 2004, the UK in 2005, and the West Indies in 2006, and had played for India in the Advocate Cricket World Cup in Australia in 2015 and in Sri Lanka in 2017.

In 2022, when Roger Binny became the new BCCI president, Saikia was elected joint secretary of the board.

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