Veteran Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik’s reunion with his wife and Indian tennis player Sania Mirza is further delayed due to the ban on international flights.
The couple was set to meet in July after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) allowed Malik to skip four weeks of training to be with his family. However the coronavirus lockdown and other restrictions have meant they have not been able to meet.
Malik will only be allowed to fly to India if the ongoing travel ban is removed. The Pakistan team had departed to England last month and started their preparations for the upcoming series against the three lions. According to a PCB statement, the board will now wait till the second week of August before taking a call and the cricketer might have to go to England before meeting his wife and son.
Earlier he was given time until July 24 but his departure for England has been delayed further until the second week of August after India extended the ban on
international flights until July 31, which, in turn, has delayed a planned family
reunion.
Speaking to The Indian Express in May, Sania had said that she doesn’t know when they will meet again. “So he got stuck in Pakistan, I got stuck here. That was very difficult to deal with because we have a small child. We don’t know when
lzhaan will be able to see his father again. It’s as basic as that.
“We are both pretty positive and practical people. He has a mother who is over 65 and by herself, so he needs to be there. So in the end, it worked out best that he was there with her. We hope we are healthy and come out of this on the right side of it,” she had said.
