Indian cricketers who got hitched in 2013

Dinesh Karthik has been hogging the headlines today after news broke of his engagement to squash queen Dipika Pallikal. The news amplifies a year where the cricketer enjoyed much positivity which included a return to the Indian national setup earlier this year as featured in the Champions Trophy win in England. The talented wicket-keeper batsman’s skills have never been in doubt – if not for a certain MS Dhoni – he would probably be the first-choice keeper for India. But, he wasn’t the first though as 2013 saw a number of Indian cricketers getting hitched, announcing their engagements/wedding.

Dinesh Karthik

Starting off with Dinesh, the wicket-keeper batsman got engaged to squash star Dipika Pallikal in a gala function in Chennai on Wednesday. The couple were reportedly seeing each other for almost a year and finally decided to make the news public. Dipika is a star in her own right, being the first Indian woman to break into the top-10 of the world rankings and is currently ranked 13th in the world.

Abhishek Nayar Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar got engaged recently as well on 24th November and the 30-year-old took to Twitter to reveal the news saying: “And I am now engaged :) …must I add happily engaged,” he tweeted.

Piyush Chawla

Piyush Chawla with fiancee Anubhuti

The leg-spinner is set to tie the knot today November 29. Cricketer Piyush Chawla got engaged to Anubhuti Chauhan in a private ceremony in Moradabad on July 26 this year in a simple, low-key affair, where only close friends and family members were invited. Piyush and Anubhuti are neighbours in the Moradabad area and have known each other for quite sometime. Two years ago, they decided to upgrade their friendship to something more. Anubhuti is an MBA graduate and said to be working in the HR department of GE.

Shantakumaran Sreesanth

Sreesanth

Sreesanth’s wedding is set to take place on December 12 at Guruvayoor Shri Krishna Temple in Kerala. The banned former India pace bowler is set to tie the knot with a girl from a Rajasthani royal family. There’s also set to be a reception in Kochi. Sreesanth’s mother Savithri Devi was quoted over it saying “he will be marrying Nayan”. Her name is said to be Bhuvaneswari, though she is fondly called ‘Nayan’ or ‘Nain’ by those close to her. The couple has been going steady for the past six years and she has known to have stood by him even in times of crisis when he was jailed following a spot fixing scandal during the last edition of the Indian Premier League. Sreesanth was banned from all forms of the game by the Board of Control for Cricket in India after a probe by the BCCI. While she was keeping track of the case, her father is said to have met Sreesanth while he was behind bars at Tihar jail. Nain is a jewellery designer.

Lakshmipathy Balaji

Balaji with wife Priya

Balaji married his long-time girlfriend Priya Thalur earlier this year in a low-key ceremony in Chennai. The bowler who had become a fan favourite with the masses with his smiling on-field demeanour and his bowling exploits in Pakistan.

The wedding was attended by some of his close friends from the Tamil Nadu cricket team Murali Vijay, Anirudha Srikanth and Subramaniam Badrinath. BCCI’s in-exile President, N Srinivasan, was also present on the occasion and so was spin bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka.

His wife Priya is a Chennai-based model.

Manoj Tiwary

Manoj Tiwary and Sushmita Roy

Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Manoj Tiwary tied the knot with his longtime girlfiend, Sushmita Roy, in Howrah on 18 July, 2013. Sushmita and Manoj were reportedly dating for seven years before they tied the knot. It was a love story straight out of the fairy tales – they met, fell in love and decided to live happily ever after.

Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav and Tania Wadhwa

26-year-old Umesh Yadav married his long-time sweetheart Tania Wadhwa on May 29 after the completion of this year’s IPL. The couple, had gotten engaged in a quiet ceremony in Nagpur during the tournament before arranging for the wedding a month later.

The marriage, in fact, happened a day before the Indian team departed to England for the Champions Trophy. Tania is a Delhi-based fashion designer and the duo apparently met in Delhi a few years ago. “We met in Delhi and then our friendship grew… and then I proposed to her. We decided to get married after a year’s courtship and our families agreed,” Umesh said to reporters after the engagement.

“It is not a case of love at first sight. We have spent a lot of time together since the last three years. I was yet to play international cricket when I met Tanya. She is a nice, simple girl. I proposed to her earlier this year. You can say it’s an arranged love marriage.”

Ashoke Dinda

Ashoke Dinda and Sreyasi Rudra

The fast bowler, famous for his humongous leaps just before his delivery of the ball, took the biggest leap of faith this year when he married his girlfriend Sreyasi Rudra in a traditional Bengali wedding on July 22. Sreyasi is a software engineer.

Manoj Tiwari, fresh from his own wedding, was there to attend his friend and Bengal teammate Dinda’s big moment. The 29-year-old Dinda met Sreyasi four years ago at a friend’s home.

They had decided during this year’s IPL to wed in July. “We met again after a few years at a party and I liked her, but we did not exchange numbers. After our third meeting, I took her number from a friend and we kept in touch. She is the most sober girl I’ve ever met. I made her meet my mom one and half years ago. I gave her hints about my feelings then, but she brushed me off. I kept pursuing her till she gave in,” Dinda had said.

Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara and Puja Babari

Indian Cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara’s wedding to Puja Babari, took place on 13 February, 2013 at Kalawad Road in Rajkot, Gujarat. There was no letoff for Pujara though as just days after his wedding, he had to report to Bangalore for a cricket camp ahead of the series against Australia. It was an ‘arranged marriage’ with Pujara’s father and Puja’s parents having met and decided on the engagement and wedding before Cheteshwar and Puja had met themselves.

Pujara in fact shot to fame after his comments following his first match after his wedding where he had said in the post match press conference: “There was a bit of pressure on me. I just got married, and my wife was worried I should perform,” he had said.

The batsman had meant it in earnest taking a view of the match, but unfortunately it was enough to get Twitter-heads and Facebookers rolling.

And I am now engaged :) …must I add happily engaged pic.twitter.com/tA2lQddm7L

— abhishek nayar (@abhisheknayar1) November 24, 2013

Congrats @sreesanth36 . Sreesanth to tie the knot on December 12 at Guruvayoor Temple in Kerala.

— Indian Cricket Team (@IndianCricNews) November 18, 2013