Sania Mirza is a proud wife ahead of husband's 250th ODI

Pakistan will play a virtual quarter-final against Sri Lanka on Monday at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. The equation is very clear for both the teams, as the winner makes it to the knock-out stages and loser goes home without any substantial gain. But for Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, the match is highly significant for another reason. Her better half, Shoaib Malik will be playing his 250th ODI for the country.

The 35-year old all-rounder has been donning the green jersey for nearly 18 years now. In 249 matches, he has scored 6742 runs with an average of over 35. Handy with the ball as well, the man from Sialkot, Punjab has picked up 153 wickets so far in ODIs. Ahead of the important tie, wife Sania said that she is proud of her husband’s achievement while giving an interview to the official Facebook page of Pakistan Cricket Team.

“It’s a proud moment for all of us, for his mother, for his brother and sisters and for myself too. We are very proud of him of everything he has achieved,” said Mirza. “It shows his commitment to Pakistan and to cricket. I have always known him as someone with full of passion for playing and for representing his country,” the 30-year old former Wimbledon doubles winner added.

Sania and Shoaib communicated through phone

Hailing from two different countries and being sporting personalities, Mirza and Malik found it difficult to see each other often. Hence, the phone was the saviour for them. “Lot goes into coordinating, phones really help us, We spend a lot of time apart. Obviously, being two professional athletes. I get lucky because in Australia as well, the Pakistan team was there when I was in Australia. Sometimes our schedules match and I had this week off, instead of going back to India or Dubai, I came here. So good change for me to watch some cricket as well,” recalled the Mumbai-born tennis star.

Sania is not very far away from Cardiff now. She is in Birmingham, where the winner of Monday’s game is likely to take on hosts England. Sania has watched 3 Champions Trophy matches so far, which included first two games of India and Pakistan’s game against South Africa. But she is geared to watch Monday’s match.

“It has been great, however, I haven’t watched that many. I have watched some as I was participating in Paris. So there was not much cricket there, I love watching it and I love watching it. I watched the last match live where Pakistan beat South Africa. I will watch tomorrow (match against Sri Lanka). I did watch India’s couple of matches as well,” said an excited Mirza.

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