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Jay Shah & Zaka Ashraf (Source: Twitter)
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited Indian Cricket Board Secretary and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Jay Shah to attend the inaugural match of the 2023 Asia Cup. The continental tournament, co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a hybrid model, will kick off on August 30 with the Men in Green taking on Nepal in Multan.
Apart from Shah's invitation, the PCB has also invited other governing body heads who are part of the ACC to watch the opening encounter. According to a report by PTI, a PCB source familiar with the development said the new board chairman Zaka Ashraf had verbally invited Shah when they met in Durban for a Cricket Governing Body meeting.
"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 Cricket Governing Body meeting,” the news agency quoted a PCB source as saying.
Shah had earlier refused to visit Pakistan
Meanwhile, earlier last month, Pakistani media had reported that Shah had been invited to Pakistan to see the security arrangements first-hand and had accepted the invitation of Chairman Ashraf. However, the ACC president later dismissed the claim saying it was just a miscommunication and confirmed that he is not going to the neighbouring country.
On Shah's gesture, the report said: "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.
The source also said that the PCB invited Shah to highlight that it does not want to mix sports with politics. "The idea is to basically highlight Pakistan's chosen stance on cricket relations with India that it does not mix politics with sports."
The Asia Cup, which will be held from August 30 to September 17, will host four matches in Pakistan and the remaining nine matches in Sri Lanka. The decision to have a hybrid model of hosting came after the Indian Cricket Board refused to allow its men to travel to Pakistan. India will start their campaign against Pakistan on Saturday, September 2, in Kandy.