Indian cricketer, Irfan Pathan got married to Safa Baig, a 21-year-old Saudi Arabian model, in a simple and extremely private wedding ceremony held at Jeddah on February 4, Times of India reports. The 'Nikaah' ceremony was held at Haram Shareef in Mecca and was attended only by family members and close relatives while a dinner programme was arranged by the Pathans at Hotel Trident in Jeddah following the wedding ceremony.
The news comes on a day when Pathan was already in the news as he was a strong contender to be included in the 15-member Indian squad for the 2016 World T20. Though he failed to make the cut, with youngster Hardik Pandya earning a berth for the tournament to be held in India, Irfan ensured that it was not all gloomy news for him.
According to reports, Irfan and Safa- who is a model by profession and currently employed at a PR firm in Jeddah- had been seeing each other for a couple of years. The duo had apparently got engaged three months back and the family certainly managed to keep the affair an extremely well-kept secret.
"Irfan and Safa met in Dubai about two years ago and later came close. Safa even visited Vadodara to meet Irfan's family. The duo got engaged about three months ago following which the wedding date was fixed," said a source.
A year of marriages for Indian Cricketers
It has been a busy few months as far as Indian cricketers and weddings are concerned. It all started with Suresh Raina’s wedding to childhood friend Priyanka Chaudhary in April 2015 while wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik tied the knot with squash star Dipika Pallikal in August.
Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh also got married later in 2015 in a grand Punjabi-wedding to actress Geeta Basra, while signing off 2015 was Rohit Sharma who tied the knot with Ritika Sajdeh in December.
Apart from the above, Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh got engaged to Sheetal Gautam and Hazel Keech respectively. The latest one to join the bandwagon was Ravindra Jadeja who got engaged to Rivaba Solanki earlier today.
It has to be said that in the midst of the media glare that Indian cricketers are subjected to in the cricket-crazy nation, Pathan certainly did very well to keep his relationship with Safa under the wraps. An alumna of the International Indian School in Jeddah, Safa is the daughter of Mirza Farooq Baig and is also known as a self-taught nail artist back in her homeland.
The bride and Irfan’s sister had apparently worn diamond jewellery sourced from Surat for the ceremony. Irfan is expected to throw a grand ceremony at the Laxmi Vilas Palace in his hometown of Vadodara, Gujarat in March – a function that is likely to be attended by prominent cricketers like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
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