5 instances when foreign cricketers were smitten by Indian damsels

Indian women are always considered to be some of the most beautiful women in the world. No matter what people say and some foreign cricketers will definitely agree to the fact as they themselves were smitten by the beautiful Indian damsels. There are a number of breathtaking and heart-wrenching love stories of the celebrated cricketers with women from the Asian country.

Let’s take a look at some of the foreign cricketers who fell head over heels for the Indian women.

#5 Vivian Richards

One of the greatest cricketers of all times, Vivian Richards fell in love with the beautiful Indian actress Neena Gupta. The married West Indian cricketer’s love affair with the Indian actress became quite a controversial relationship creating a huge media buzz.

In spite of being in a society which hardly respects or accepts such relations, the Indian damsel decided to keep their love child, Masaba Gupta. She went against the world for the love of her life and brought the little girl up on her own, who is now one of the famous fashion designers of the country.

Later, Neena Gupta settled in Delhi after getting married to the businessman Vivek Mehra. Richards still continues his responsibility as a father and keeps coming back to India. The three of them go on vacations together whenever they get a chance to. Masaba speaks highly of her father and feels proud to be known as Sir Viv Richard's daughter.

#4 Shoaib Malik

Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik at a ceremony

This was undoubtedly one of the most controversial and publicised weddings in the history of sport. No one seemed to have a clue when love blossomed between the Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik and Indian tennis queen Sania Mirza. It was later known that they both first met in Australia where the cricketer lost a Test match against the Aussies and the tennis star had crashed out of the Australian Open.

While the rival nations compete with each other at each level to prove their superiority, the two lovebirds announced their affair and marriage. Comments and speculation from people started soon after it but Sania shut the haters up with the most logical statement saying, "I was not marrying a Pakistani, I was marrying a person. People try to make political statements but forget that we are human beings."

They soon got married on 2 April 2010 and the great part is both continue playing for their respective nations in their chosen fields.

#3 Muttiah Muralitharan

Muralitharan with his wife Madhimalar

The Sri Lanka international cricket’s leading wicket-taker and spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan fell in love with Madhimalar Ramamurthy. She is a Tamil girl who is the daughter of Nithya and S. Ramamurthy- the owners of Malar hospitals. Muttiah Muralitharan got married to her in 2005 and the couple also have a son, who was born in 2006.

Madhi was almost interested in everything other than cricket but that was not a problem. According to her, "What I really liked about him was he was always smiling. When somebody smiles at you like that, you feel so relaxed and comfortable. It was very important for me to feel comfortable. I knew he was a celebrated cricketer, but I had to feel comfortable with such a person. He was such a simple and down to earth person that I liked him immediately. I also told him what I expect from a husband. He spoke very honestly about himself, which was very important for me as I am going to live with him."

#2 Shaun Tait

Shaun Tait met Mashoom Singha during the IPL

Australian pacer, Shaun Tait was clean bowled by the beauty and charms of the Indian super model Mashoom Singha. They dated for four years before getting married in June 2014. Tait met the love of his life when he was playing the Indian Premier League in 2010. Mashoom revealed, "I was doing a fashion show at the after-party. We kept bumping into each other. And one thing led to another,"

He proposed to her in Paris, a year before their marriage. The Indo-Australian wedding took place in Mumbai and the celebrations were huge which went on for a week as Tait’s friends came all the way from Australia to Mumbai. Indian cricketers like Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan also became a part of their celebrations.

#1 Gary Sobers

Sobers later married an Australian, Prue Kirby

West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers was quite smitten by the charming young 17-year-old Indian actress Anju Mahendru. Anju Mahendru, was struggling to make a place in Bollywood at that point of time.

The two of them fell deeply in love and were almost ready to get hitched. She even broke off her engagement with superstar Rajesh Khanna to accept Gary’s proposal. But, destiny didn’t support the lovebirds rather Anju’s parents did not support the relationship. They were very much against their daughter’s choice and Anju respected the decision, thus ending the affair.

Gary Sobers in his autobiography wrote about Anju Mahendru (which in his book is spelt as 'Mahindu'). Sobers remembers her with enough fondness, “She was so beautiful and such a nice person". It was in the book that he revealed for the first time that he intended to take her to England for marriage but some things aren’t meant to be. The duo have remained good friends, though.