Cricket and travelling always go hand in hand. While on a Sunday morning you could find a cricketer sipping a cup of coffee in Mumbai, on Monday morning you may find him doing the same in Melbourne. That explains their hectic travel schedule.
But with that, comes the opportunity to meet new people, and perhaps, fall in a love with a foreigner too. We've seen that time and again. Be it an Indian woman marrying a Pakistani cricketer, or an Australian cricketer marrying an Indian woman.
These players have proved time and again that love knows no territorial boundaries. Although the list of cricketers with foreign wives is quite a long one, here are 5 of the best love stories between a cricketer and his foreign beau.
#1 Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza
When former Pakistani captain Shoaib Malik, and Indian tennis star Sania Mirza fell in love with each other, the concept of borders was left far behind. Although the two colossal athletes were familiar with each other’s names, it was in 2004 when they first came across each other.
That was not in India or Pakistan but in Hobart. Seems like it was love in the very first meeting because the second time they met, Shoaib went to watch one of her games live. As fate had it, the two, who were separated by a border as tensioned as the India-Pakistan one, got married only after five months of knowing each other.
The patriotism of both the athletes was challenged, given the diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Reports even suggested that they received threat calls to cancel their wedding. But fighting all the odds, the two went on to tie the knot on April 12, 2010.
After their wedding, they settled down in Dubai since the place suited both of them geographically. And then, it was a happily ever after.
Also Read: ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Sania Mirza lauds Shoaib Malik's commitment
#2 Shaun Tait and Mashoom Singha
After dating each other for nearly four years, Australian quick Shaun Tait tied the knot with Indian ramp model Mashoom Singha in 2014. The couple apparently met each other while vacationing in Paris and fell in love.
Their wedding was as grand as one could expect. Tait, his family and friends travelled to Mumbai where the wedding functions panned out for a week. Among attendees were Indian cricketers Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.
The couple keeps shuttling between Mumbai and Adelaide and after marriage, the pacer got himself an Indian citizenship as well.
#3 Shikhar Dhawan and Ayesha
Shikhar Dhawan and his love, Ayesha Mukherjee, started getting to know each other on social networking website Facebook! The moustache swirling cricketer is grateful to his senior colleague Harbhajan Singh, who is said to have introduced Shikhar and his Australian wife on Facebook.
Ayesha, an amateur boxer, is said to have a good amount of interest in cricket. The Bengali beauty has two daughters from her first marriage and is also 12 years older than the swashbuckling opener. It is said that Dhawan had a tough time convincing his parents since they had concerns about the age difference between the two.
They got engaged in 2009 and married in 2012.
#4 Mohammad Amir and Nargis
The 6 ft 2 inch-long Pakistani left-arm fast bowler came to spotlight after the spot-fixing scandal in 2010. Amir was implicated in allegations of spot-fixing and was handed a five-year ban for bowling two deliberate no-balls.
He had to go to England for his trial, where he hired a lawyer named Nargis, a Bengali-British who was taking care of Amir's case in the UK. As fate had it, the duo fell in love with each her and soon after Amir’s release from the prison, they both got married. By far this remains of the most intriguing love stories of all!
#5 Muttiah Muralitharan and Madhimalar Ramamurthy
Muttiah Muralitharan, regarded as one of the finest bowlers in international cricket, was never keen on tying the knot, but it took only one meeting with the adorable Madhimalar to change his mind.
Muralitharan married the Chennai-based girl in 2005 and they became proud parents of a baby boy in 2006. Madhimalar is the daughter of Dr S Ramamurthy, the founder of the famous Malar Hospitals in Chennai.
Wondering how they met?
The spinner happened to meet famous Tamil actor Vagai Chandrasekhar at a TV studio. Murali told him that his mother was a huge fan of the actor and would like to meet him someday.
The actor obliged and met Murali’s mother who apparently told him that they were looking for a girl for their son! Chandrasekhar knew Madhimalar and played the Cupid. No wonder they say, the world is a small place!
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