LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) extended an invitation to Jay Shah, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), urging him to be present at the inaugural clash of the Asia Cup.
The opening match, set to take place on August 30 in Multan, will feature Pakistan facing off against Nepal.
In addition to Shah's invitation, the PCB reached out to the heads of other cricket boards associated with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), inviting them to attend the opening fixture.
A reliable source within the PCB disclosed that the gesture of inviting Shah was driven more by a sense of optimism rather than a concrete expectation of his presence in Pakistan.
“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,” the source said.
The Pakistani media had then reported that Shah accepted the PCB's invitation, but the BCCI secretary denied this claim.
“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,” he said.
Aware of the existing relations between India and Pakistan, the source said PCB wanted to show that it does not mix sports with politics by extending the invitation to Shah.
“The idea is to basically highlight Pakistan's chosen stance on cricket relations with India that it does not mix politics with sports,” he added.
The Asia Cup 2023 will be held from August 30 to September 17 across venues in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
(With PTI inputs)
