Preferring to play down the controversy stirred by Shoaib Akhtar’s recently released biography ‘Controversially Yours’, in which he has made some tall claims, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik said there was no point in giving much importance to the pacer’s book.
“When his own family does not take him seriously, I don’t understand why is everyone taking his comments in his book seriously,” Malik told a TV channel in an interview, where he appeared with his wife, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza. Both of them appeared in private channel’s morning show and spoke on issues concerning their lives and marriage.
Sania said she would like to see her husband accomplish a lot of milestones in international cricket and believed that he still had a lot to offer for Pakistan cricket. Sania admitted that the period when Shoaib was out of the Pakistan cricket team, she was constantly supporting and telling him to keep on performing in domestic cricket. “It has been a difficult time for us after marriage because both of us have to travel a lot but we have remained very close to each other and constantly kept in touch,” Sania said. Stating that she doesn’t like to comment on media reports concerning their married life and likes to stay clear of controversies, said, “I don’t speak on these issues but no matter what people say we are very happy together and personally I am very satisfied and happy.”
Sania and her family are presently in Karachi on a private visit with Shoaib, who is playing in the national T20 championship in the city. They also spoke about their desire to see their marriage helping in some way to bridge the troubled relations between Pakistan and India as a lot of things were common between the people of the two countries.
Sania, meanwhile, also talked about the successful doubles partnership between India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq in international tennis. “I think what they are doing is creditable because playing together shows that Pakistanis and Indians can get along well with each other,” Sania said. She also said that while it was difficult to see herself pairing up with Aisam on the international circuit, but not impossible.
