Former Pakistan men’s team cricket captain Shoaib Malik has remarried, amid speculation of his separation from former world No 1 and Indian tennis star Sania Mirza.
Malik posted picture of his wedding to Pakistani actress Sana Javed on X, formerly twitter, on Saturday.
Mirza and Malik were married in 2010 and have a son together, born in 2018.
On Wednesday, Mirza had posted a message on her social media handle, stating: “Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard… Life will never be easy. It will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely.”
Mirza’s father Imran later told PTI that the tennis star had taken a “khula” – which is a muslim woman’s right to unilaterally divorce her husband.
Imran Mirza, on Sunday, posted on Instagram that the Sania Mirza and Malik had been “divorced for a few months now.”
The tennis star had faced considerable flak for her marriage to the Pakistani cricket amid political tensions between the two countries.
Bharatiya Janta Party MP K Laxman had challenged the Telangana government for appointing Mirza as a brand ambassador of the state, terming her the “daughter-in-law” of Pakistan.
This is Malik’s third marriage. His first wedding, to Pakistani national Ayesha Siddique was reportedly acrimonious and the pair signed their divorce papers just days before Malik’s wedding to Mirza.
Malik, 41, has played 35 Tests, 287 One Day Internationals and 124 Twenty20 Internationals for Pakistan, and is considered one of the most high-profile players from the country.
Mirza, 37, is a winner of six Grand Slam titles and had risen to the world No 1 women’s doubles ranking along with Martina Hingis in April 2015.
Since their wedding in 2010, Mirza had been shuttling between her residence in India and Dubai. She has been a regular commentator on Indian television for the Grand Slam events her retirement after the Australian Open in 2023.
Malik, meanwhile, has retired from international cricket and recently served as a television pundit in Pakistan during the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup.