5 Popular Cricketers Who Married Their Cousins Or Friend’s Ex-Wife!

Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli are hands down the most loved cricketer-celebrity couple on the social media. There are several cricketers like Kohli who tied the knot to an actress, including Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Hardik Pandya, etc. However, there is another lot of cricketers who married a girl from outside the industry. Some of them tied the knot to their best friends, girlfriends while the others went for an arranged marriage.

For the starters, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after having an alleged affair with Deepika Padukone for a brief time, went on to marry his school friend Sakshi Rawat. Similarly, Rohit Sharma tied the knot with Ritika Sajdeh, who also doesn’t belong to glamour industry.

But there were some who made headlines for their unconventional pair. Some married their relatives while others walked down the aisle with their friend’s ex-wife! In this article, we have listed all the cricketers who made headlines for their unconventional partner choices.

1. Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag earned quite a name with his glorious cricketing career. He also became a household name for his cricket commentaries during several matches. However, very little is known about his personal life since he is very secretive about it. He proposed his now wife Aarti Ahlawat when he was just 21 years old. They are married for around two decades now. But did you know that Aarti is actually Sehwag’s distant relative? Sehwag’s cousin is married to Aarti’s aunt.

2. Saeed Anwar

The Pakistani cricketer is definitely one of the most renowned bowlers from Pakistani cricket team. Talking about his personal life, he is married to his cousin Lubna since 1996. Lubna is a doctor by profession and a distant cousin of Anwar. Now, the couple are proud parents of a daughter named Bismah. In 2001, one of their children passed away due to a prolonged illness.

3. Murli Vijay

Murli Vijay is known among cricket fans for his extraordinary performance, but his personal life caught as much limelight as his cricketing career did. His wife Nikita was previously married to another former cricketer Dinesh Karthik. Karthik and Nikita were childhood lovers and after a long relationship, they tied the knot. However, due to personal differences, their nuptials didn’t survive the tide of time.

4. Shahid Afridi

The firebrand Pakistani cricketer never fails to make headlines. Be it for his interviews or his scorching statements on Twitter. He is married to Nadia, who is also his maternal cousin. Theirs was an arranged marriage but the couple is living happily married life now even years after their nuptials. They are now parents to four daughters.

5. Upul Tharanga

Sri Lankan cricket player Tharanga is married to Nilanka after a brief relationship. Before Tharanga, Nilanka was married to another popular Sri Lankan player, Tilakratne Dilshan. According to the media reports, her closeness with Tharanga was one of the reasons why the couple split up. Soon after their divorce, she tied knot with Tharanga.

So, these were the popular cricketers who tied knot with their friend’s ex-wife or their distant relatives. If you think we have missed someone, kindly let us know in the comment section.