The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly invited BCCI secretary Jay Shah among other top officials of participating cricket boards for the opening match of the Asia Cup 2023 to be played on August 30. Pakistan will lock horns with tournament debutants Nepal in Multan in what will be a day-night fixture.
Shah is also the president of Asian Cricket Council (ACC).
“The PCB has basically followed up on the invitation which was extended verbally by Chairman Zaka Ashraf to Jay Shah when they both met in Durban for the ICC meeting,” news agency PTI quoted a source as saying.
The latest report comes after Shah had refuted claims in Pakistan media that he has accepted Ashraf’s invitation.
“The PCB was obviously embarrassed after the Pakistani media reported that Jay Shah had accepted Zaka Ashraf’s invitation and the Indian board official later flatly denied this,” the source said.
The Asia Cup this year was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan but BCCI said it won’t be able to send team across the border citing government’s refusal.
After much deliberation, it was decided that the tournament will be held across Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Four matches will be played in Pakistan while the remaining including the final will be held in Sri Lanka.
As per the source PCB’s latest invite is to show they don’t intend to mix politics and cricket. “The idea is to basically highlight Pakistan’s chosen stance on cricket relations with India that it does not mix politics with sports,” the source claimed.
Bilateral cricket relations between India and Pakistan have non-existent for years now due to the strained diplomatic relations between the two neighbours.
The two teams though play each other regularly at ICC and continental events with Pakistan set to travel to India later this year for the ODI World Cup.
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