‘Paisa Khatam hogya inka’ – Fans react as PCB invites Jay Shah to watch Asia Cup 2023 opener in Pakistan

The Asia Cup 2023 is all set to commence on August 30 in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Notably, the Indian Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) settled on a hybrid format for the upcoming Asia Cup as the Indian Cricket Board denied travel to Pakistan due to political tensions between these countries. In addition, Pakistan will host the first four matches, whereas the rest of the matches of the tournament will be played in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Notably, Pakistan was the primary host since it had previously earned the right to host, but India’s decision not to send its squad to Pakistan eventually resulted in Sri Lanka being the other host.

According to the reports, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited Indian Cricket Board Secretary and Asian Cricket Council President Jay Shah to witness the opening match of the Asia Cup between Pakistan and Nepal.

“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 PCB was obviously embarrassed: Reports

According to the reports in PTI, Indian Cricket Board Secretary and Asian Cricket Council President Jay Shah had earlier accepted the offer to visit the neighbouring country, but the Indian Cricket Board denied these rumours and clearly stated that Jay Shah would not be travelling to Pakistan. Meanwhile, it’s reported that this incident caused embarrassment to the PCB, which says that politics should not get mixed up with sports.

“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. The idea is to basically highlight Pakistan’s chosen stance on cricket relations with India that it does not mix politics with sports,” it added further.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma’s side will be locking horns against the Men in Green on September 2 in Kandy, Sri Lanka, to commence their journey.

Check out how fans have reacted to the same:

Jay shah To PCB pic.twitter.com/o3eBXpe7Ux

— Suresh Parmar® (@iamSureshParmar) August 18, 2023

Jay shah To PCB pic.twitter.com/o3eBXpe7Ux

— Suresh Parmar® (@iamSureshParmar) August 18, 2023

Saazish hai.

Mat Jana Jay Shah bhai.

Sunny Paaji ko #Gadar3 banani padegi fir aapke liye. 😉 pic.twitter.com/8y4JGWLj3x

— Pathik Joshi💪 (@pathikj80) August 19, 2023

Denied

— User45 (@140off113) August 18, 2023

Jay Shah has already declinedpic.twitter.com/TW6fmv7Z8l

— M (@anngrypakiistan) August 18, 2023

When Jay Shah arrived in Pakistan le PCB to Jay shah. pic.twitter.com/WehYNTtNA2

— Gareeboo (@GareeboOP) August 19, 2023

Jay Shah be like : pic.twitter.com/BbGCdktarS

— Suryabhan Singh Vaghela (@suryabhansv) August 18, 2023

Jay shah pic.twitter.com/0ey1wbJ9L5

— 𝙎 (@Alreadysad__) August 18, 2023

I don’t think he will go

— Mayank Goel (@indiangalactico) August 18, 2023

Pic selection pic.twitter.com/wWbT102eih

— Ishu (@PocketDynamoo) August 18, 2023

Ye kya picture dali haii 😭😭😭

— 𝐒𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐲𝐚𝐬𝐌𝐒𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐧™ (@Itzshreyas07) August 18, 2023