Pakistan cricket team all-rounder Shoaib Malik opened up about his marriage with Sania. He revealed that he wasn’t nervous about tying the knot with her due to the unhealthy relations between the two neighbouring countries.
During a recent interview with pakpassion.net, Shoaib said: “In a marriage, you don’t concern yourself with where your partner is from or what is going on between the countries or in politics. That is not our domain. If you love someone and get married to that person that should be all that matters, regardless of which country you come from. On a wider point, I have many friends who are Indian, and I don’t find anything strained because of the relationship between the two countries. I am a cricketer, not a politician,” he said.
To meet his wife, the former Pakistan skipper has travelled to India several times. He has also represented his team against India at the hight level.
Shoaib Malik tied the knot with Indian Tennis star Sania Mirza at Taj Krishna Hotel in Hyderabad on April 12, 2008. Since Sania lives in Hyderabad while Shoaib mostly stays at his hometown Sialkot in Pakistan, they don’t get much time to spend with each other.
Shoaib and Sania got blessed with a baby boy in 2018, which saw the tennis ace taking a maternity break. She made a sensational comeback to the game earlier this year by winning the WTA Hobart International doubles final in Australia.
Talking about Malik, the veteran Pakistan cricketer has retired from Tests and ODIs but is eyeing a spot in the squad for T20 World Cup. He has also been picked in the 29-member squad for the England tour.
Shoaib has been given special permission to skip the first four weeks of Pakistan’s training in England in order to meet his family. Malik has been in Pakistan since the lockdown while Sania is in India.
“Unlike the rest of us, Shoaib Malik has not seen his immediate family for nearly five months due to his commitments and the subsequent international travel bans following the Covid-19 pandemic. As travel restrictions are now slowly easing out and there is an opportunity for a family reunion, it is appropriate that at a human level we show compassion as part of our duty of care and respect Shoaib’s request,” Wasim Khan, PCB’s CEO, said on Saturday.
The members of Pakistan cricket team and their support staff are scheduled to leave for the United Kingdom on June 28. They will be quarantined for two weeks in Derbyshire.