Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, who recently married for the third time, will take no further part in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) season, his franchise Fortune Barishal confirmed on Thursday. Malik has been in the news for marrying Pakistani actor Sana Javed, following his ‘unilateral’ divorce with former India tennis star Sania Mirza. In an official statement, Fortune Barishal confirmed that Malik will miss the remaining matches of BPL after flying to Dubai for personal reasons.
Malik featured in all of Barishal’s matches in the first Dhaka phase but had a below-par outing. He will be replaced by compatriot Ahmed Shehzad for the remaining matches.
However, he scripted a huge milestone last week, becoming the first Asian player ever and the second overall to score 13,000 runs in T20 cricket. He achieved the feat during the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match between Fortune Barishal against Rangpur Riders and joined Chris Gayle in an elite list.
During a game against Khulna Tigers, Malik caught the attention for all the reasons as he bowled three no-balls in the same over.
Last week, Malik announced that he has married a third time to the country’s popular actor Sana Javed in Karachi, finally ending the speculations around his separation with Indian tennis star Sania Mirza.
The cricketer released his wedding photograph on social media platform X with his new wife, with the words “And We created you in pairs”.
There have been strong rumours since 2022 about differences between 41-year-old Shoaib and Sania leading to a split, and they have rarely been seen together in the last couple of years.
Just a few days back Malik unfollowed the Indian star on Instagram.
Their five-year-old son Izaan lives with Sania.
A family source told PTI that Sania had initiated the divorce proceedings.
“It was a ‘khula’. I do not wish to comment beyond this,” said the source. Khula refers to the right of a Muslim woman to unilaterally divorce her husband.
Shoaib and Sania had got married in the Indian player’s hometown Hyderabad in April 2010 and they used to live in Dubai.
The social media posts by the 37-year-old Sania also indicated that she was under stress.
(With PTI inputs)
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