India-Pakistan pride: Sania Mirza World No 1, Shoaib Malik on cloud no 9

So Shoaib Malik is relevant again – at least in the Twitterverse.

Has he turned in a remarkable performance with bat and ball?

Nope.

Has he made a comeback to the Pakistan cricket team?

Not at all.

Then why?

His wife has recently become the World No 1 doubles tennis player, and he’s piggybacking on the success.

Okay, okay, maybe I’m being a bit uncharitable to the man. After all, what he’s doing is little more than cheesy PDA by openly expressing his love, support and admiration for Sania Mirza.

He proclaims himself her no 1 fan. He says he’s proud of her achievements because of how hard she works. He says he prays for her and is proud of her instead of being jealous of the fact that she’s more famous than him. He says if he weren’t a cricketer, he would’ve been Sania’s manager.

Awwww! Choooooo chweeeeeeeeeet!

That Malik feels Sania’s success is a matter of pride for Pakistan as well as India is a positive thought – a true sporting Veer-Zaara moment.

Malik acknowledges that Sania is Indian, and rubbishes a suggestion from a fan that she could one day play for Pakistan. He writes: “Not at all, that would be unfair. I should not ask her to change who she is, what she is made of, where she belongs...”

Of course, we Indians have suddenly found our admiration for Sania, too. For the last four days, we have been bombarding her with congratulatory messages and expressing our pride at her being one of "us".

We have conveniently forgotten that we call her the daughter-in-law of Pakistan. That conversations about her around the water-cooler don’t generally revolve around her playing talent for too long. That she has perennially been in trouble with the illuminati in her own city for what she has to wear on a tennis court, instead of being lauded for breaking the glass ceiling and putting herself in the same conversation as her male counterparts, the legendary Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

There’s a meme doing the rounds on social media – that the politician who had put up a hoarding congratulating Saina Nehwal for becoming World No 1 and "accidentally" used Sania’s picture instead is actually clairvoyant. But seriously, where are the hoardings congratulating Sania?

We ought to see Sania for what she is – a true-blue Indian achiever on the tennis court. Not somebody’s wife or short-skirt-wearing fantasy.

It’s amazing that we are being shown up by a washed-up cricketer from a country we love to mock. Sorry, Shoaib, but it’s true. What’s also true is that you ARE her No 1 fan. Just don’t try to rush the "Junior Malik" part of your conversation with your fans.