The Pakistan Cricket Board has reportedly invited the Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary and Asian Cricket Council president Jay Shah to attend the opening match of the Asia Cup in Pakistan. The Asia Cup 2023 will be held in a hybrid model in Pakistan and Sri Lanka with the former being the hosts of the continental event. The tournament will kick start on August 30 with Pool A teams Pakistan and Nepal locking horns against each other.
As per a report of PTI, BCCI secretary Shah, who is also the president of ACC has been invited by PCB to watch the opening contest in Multan. "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 news agency quoted a PCB source as saying.
Jay Shah had earlier denied his Pakistan visit
Notably, there were reports in the Pakistan media earlier last month that Shah was invited to Pakistan ahead of Asia Cup to 'witness the security arrangements firsthand' and he has PCB Interim Management Committee chairman Zaka Ashraf’s invitation to visit the neighbouring country. But the BCCI secretary denied any such reports, claiming 'this is just plain miscommunication' and he will not be going to Pakistan.
The source opened on it too. "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.
It added that the idea behind it is to show that Pakistan looks to keep politics away from sports. "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.
