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.
PCB left embarrassed after Pakistani media reports falsely:
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 take place from August 30 to September 17 across venues in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
India likely to announce Asia Cup squad on August 21st:
While Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh have named their Asia Cup squads, India are yet to do so. However, media reports suggest that the BCCI will announce their squad on August 21st. The delay has been likely due to Team India facing injury concerns with Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul.
While Bumrah is likely to feature in the Asia Cup after marking a thunderous return in the first T20I against Ireland, doubts remain over Iyer and Rahul. The Men in Blue will open their campaign against Pakistan on September 2nd in Kandy.
