PCB Sends Invitation to Jay Shah For Asia Cup Opener: Reports

image-llhkmjt4Jay Shah (L) and Zaka Ashraf (R) (Source: Twitter)

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reportedly, have invited the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the President of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Jay Shah, to attend the opening match of the Asia Cup 2023 in person.

Notably, the Asia Cup will start with the fixture between Pakistan and Nepal at Multan. Four matches will be held in Pakistan, the host country, while a simultaneous leg will also run in Sri Lanka, where India will play all their games.

The PCB has also extended invitations to the heads of other boards associated with the 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," a PCB source said as quoted to PTI.

While the Pakistani media earlier confirmed Shah's acceptance of the invitation, he had turned it down.

"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 added.

As per the source, PCB's idea behind sending the invitation is to send a message that it does not mix sports with politics. Although Shah is unlikely to go to Pakistan, seeing how things pan out in the coming days will be interesting.