**ABBOTABAD: **Former international cricketer Shoaib Akhtar is set to tie the knot with a teenage girl from the district of Haripur, members of his family told The Express Tribune on Friday. Akhtar is due to visit his hometown of Rawalpindi on June 12 and family members say wedding dates have been finalised for the third week of June.
Sources said Shoaib Akhtar’s family met Mushtaq Khan, a businessman from Haripur while on Hajj last year and asked Khan’s wife for help in finding a suitable match for the 39-year-old retired cricketer.
Both families reportedly met several times upon their return to Pakistan before finalising a match between Akhtar and Rubab, aged 17.
Sources say Rubab has little interest in cricket and has three older brothers and a younger sister.
She appeared in intermediate exams conducted by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Abbottabad last month.
Sources say the mehndi function is scheduled for June 19, the rukhsati on the 20th at Haripur’s Bilawal Hall and the valima will be held in Rawalpindi on the 22nd.
*Published in The Express Tribune, June 7[SUP]th[/SUP], 2014.
Former international cricketer Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday denied reports that he is set to marry a teenage girl from the district of Haripur.
The man dubbed as ‘The Rawalpindi Express’ claimed on Twitter that the reports were just a “rumour” and tweeted a statement on reports of his marriage:
The account is not verified by Twitter but appears on cricinfo’s list “Cricket on Twitter“.
Members of Akhtar’s family had told The Express Tribune on Friday that Akhtar is due to visit his hometown of Rawalpindi on June 12 and wedding dates have been finalised for the third week of June.
Sources told The Express Tribune that the mehndi function is scheduled for June 19, while the rukhsati is scheduled for the 20th at Haripur’s Bilawal Hall and the valima will be held in Rawalpindi on the 22nd.
The Express Tribune has made numerous attempts to contact Akthar but the bowler’s cellphone has been switched off.
my all time favi palyers are ik, saeed anwer, inzi, brett lee and jhonty rhodes
wah, golden generation of Pakistan cricket. I am teen ager, but i Still remember, Saeed anwar's classic Innings, my parents were crazay for him. I used to like brett Lee for his hair. Silky like Raasham.. If i had been a girl, i would have married him.
i bet she is too young to remember shoib akhtar missing matches for pakistan because he needed to get special medical procedures done to remove genital warts. god save the 17 yr old.
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Shoaib Akhtar. — File photo
KARACHI: Rumours began circling on Saturday of Pakistan’s former speedster and Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar having decided to tie the knot.
Television reports said earlier today that Akhtar had decided to marry the daughter of Mushtaq Khan, a businessman from Haripur.
According to reports, Akhtar’s family had met Khan while performing Hajj last year and had asked the businessman’s wife for help in finding a suitable match for Akhtar.
Reports further stated that both families have been visiting each other since then and decided that Khan’s daughter would be married to Akhtar.
Furthermore, a report published in a local newspaper had stated that Akhtar was due to visit his hometown of Rawalpindi on June 12 and was likely to be married by the third week of this month.
The report quoted family sources as saying that the girl has “little interest in cricket”.
It added that celebrations in connection with the wedding have been scheduled for June 19, 20 and 22.
However, there seems to be no veracity in the news and a Twitter account believed to be maintained by Akhtar himself denied it.
