Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza

Hyderabad, March 29: After an alleged nikaah over the phone, an engagement aired on Twitter.

Tennis star Sania Mirza is set to marry former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik within days, he confirmed in a tweet tonight, making him the latest cricketer from across the border to bowl over an Indian beauty.

“…And the news of Me marrying to Sania is true. Inshallah will get married in April,” Shoaib, 28, wrote after a day of speculation in the Pakistani media about the inter-country, inter-sport marriage. Shoaib is now undergoing a one-year ban after the Pakistan board punished several senior players on charges ranging from indiscipline to poor performance.

Sania, 23, will continue to play for India, according to her father Imran Mirza who, PTI said, revealed that the couple would live in Dubai after marriage.

“This is a unique case where the husband and wife will represent their respective countries in sport,” Mirza reportedly said.

PTI quoted Shoaib’s brother-in-law Imran Z. Malik as saying the family would leave for India on April 7, the nikaah would take place in Hyderabad on April 10 or 11, and the walima or reception in Lahore on April 16 or 17. He said the marriage proposal had come from the cricketer’s mother.

TV channels, however, quoted Imran Mirza as saying the engagement was planned by April 15 but the wedding date hadn’t been fixed.

Just two months ago, Sania had split from her former fiance and childhood friend Sohrab Mirza, apparently because their lifestyles didn’t match.

Today, Shoaib was quoted as saying: “I fully understand what it takes to be an international sports person and I will support Sania in her career as long as she wishes to play. Representing India at the 2012 Olympics is very important for her and I will be the proudest husband if she can win a medal for her country.”

A statement from Sania, reported by PTI, said: “My wedding inshallah is going to be the biggest day of my life. I have been in the constant glare for too long and would appreciate privacy at this very personal moment in my life…. I hope to be fully fit to represent India in the Commonwealth and Asian Games that are scheduled for later this year.”

Some of Sania’s relatives, however, are praying that the wedding goes off smoothly. This would be Shoaib’s second engagement to a Hyderabadi girl, after the first ended in threats of lawsuits being filed against him in the city.

M.A. Siddiqui, an affluent city resident with family links to powerful clerics, accuses Shoaib of having married his daughter Ayesha in 2002 and of denying her a divorce. Shoaib denies having married Ayesha but has admitted to being engaged to her once. According to some reports, Shoaib and Ayesha had conducted a nikaah over the phone.

Imran Khan and Bollywood queen Zeenat Aman were one of the first “neighbourly” celeb couples although their widely reported romance three decades ago did not lead to marriage.

That distinction was reserved for Mohsin Khan and actress Reena Roy in the early ’80s, but the Shoaib-Sania match-up is the first involving cross-border sporting couples.

The last India-Pakistan “cricket marriage”, in 2005, took place a little away from the public eye, with Javed Miandad’s son tying the knot with the daughter of Dawood Ibrahim.