Sania's Insta stories, deleted photos with Shoaib hinted at divorce ...

Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik's separation did not come as a surprise. The writing was on the wall. It only got an official stamp when the former Pakistan cricket team captain took to social media to share photographs of his second marriage with actress Sana Javed on Saturday. Later, a family member of Sania confirmed that the former Indian tennis player was the one initiating the divorce process by exercising "khula," the right of a Muslim woman to unilaterally divorce her husband.

That Sania had officially decided to end her ties with Shoaib was evident when the multiple-time Grand Slam champion (in doubles), shared cryptic posts on her Instagram stories. About a week ago she posted on Instagram, "When something disturbs the peace of your heart, let it go," along with a picture of herself, standing before a mirror with her eyes closed.

A couple of days ago, she shared a quote about marriage, divorce, communication and life.

"Marriage is hard, Divorce is hard. Choose your hard. Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard, Choose your hard. Being in debt is hard. Being financially disciplined is hard. Choose your hard. Communication is hard. No communication is hard. Life will never be easy. I will always be hard. But we can choose our hard. Pick wisely," the quote on her story read.

Things were not smooth between the sporting icons. Rumours of a possible separation have been doing the rounds since 2022. They lost steam ever-so-slightly when Shoaib and Sania appeared on a talk show titled: 'The Mirza Malik Show’.

However, the murmurs returned when both Shoaib and Sania started to make changes to their social media accounts. Shoaib updated his Instagram bio which previously had the phrase "Proud husband to a Superwoman @MirzaSania". The couple also started archiving or deleting their photographs together.

The former Pakistan all-rounder also unfollowed Sania recently.

On January 20, Shoaib released his wedding photograph on social media platform X with his new wife, with the words "And We created you in pairs".

Shoaib and Sania got married in the Indian player's hometown Hyderabad in April 2010 and they used to live in Dubai. They have a son, Ihzaan, who stays with Sania.

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