BCCI secretary Jay Shah with PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf© Twitter
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday invited Jay Shah, BCCI Secretary and President of ACC, to attend the opening match of the Asia Cup between Pakistan and Nepal on August 30 at Multan. The PCB said besides Shah it has also invited heads of other boards who are part of the Asian Cricket Council for the opening match. A well-informed source in the PCB said the invitation was sent to Shah more out of hope than any realistic expectation of him visiting 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. India will play Pakistan on September 2 in Sri Lanka. The arch-rivals can play each other thrice in the continental event if they reach the final.
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