Suddenly there he was, natty in a sports jacket replete with sumptuously red pocket square. And, of course, a perfectly combed billow of jet black hair. He moved easily through crowds that parted for him, then regathered for selfies. After all, it isn't every day Jay Shah comes to places like Windhoek.

The ICC president was in town to discuss Namibia's readiness for the 2027 men's World Cup, which they will host with South Africa and Zimbabwe. His presence drew the leaders of African cricket from far and wide across the length and breadth of the continent. They followed him here, they followed him there, they disappeared into a meeting room with him. They re-emerged and took photographs with him.

And then, just as suddenly, he was gone. For lunch. Somewhere. It wouldn't be at one of the hospitality area's dining tables, where lamb skewers, fish and chips, beef burgers, chicken wings and lobster were on offer.

On his way out he stopped for a final selfie with a couple of strategically lurking journalists, who hadn't asked for their picture to be taken with the most powerful man in cricket - and the son of the second-most powerful man in India - but were snapped anyway.

Shah smiled his way graciously through that moment, as he had all the others. He gets a deluge of bad press, especially outside India, for his youth, for his lack of experience in the game, for the connections that supposedly put him in his position. It's easy to sneer and roll your eyes at him. But, on Tuesday's albeit brief and thin evidence, he seemed suited to the role. He was in his element and comfortable with his utterly foreign surroundings. Even though this is his first trip to Namibia, he looked at home.

Shah arrived at the Namibia Cricket Ground (NCG), the spanking new home of cricket in this country, near the end of Japan's innings in their men's under-19 World Cup game against Australia. He remarked how the outside of the ground reminded him of Newlands, with its low but neat edifice. Once inside the VVIP hospitality area, and admiring the view of the grass banks and the hills beyond, he said he was prompted to think of Centurion. About those grass banks...