As Ayesha continue with her tirade of allegations, Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik is drawing support from his former team-mates, with other sports personalities of Pakistan as well as film stars throwing their support behind Shoaib’s innocence.


Coming out strongly in favour of Shoaib, his former teammate and ex-cricket team captain Rashid Latif said the Ayesha shown on TV was not the not his colleague had fallen in love with.

“Shoaib Malik used to borrow my laptop for chatting with a girl and he did show me a few pictures of her. I can assure you that the girl I saw in pictures is not the one on TV these days,” Latif was quoted in media reports from Pakistan.

“I can go to any forum including a court of law to reiterate my statement, and I appeal to all cricketers to stand by Shoaib Malik on this issue,” he added.

Pakistani hockey player Rehan Butt has also come out in defence of Shoaib.

“This is another instance of where the Indian media is holding a media trial of Malik without knowing the truth. He has gone there to marry an Indian girl and that is something they can’t digest,” Butt said.

Star actor Saud has urged the media to let Shoaib and his would-be-bride Sania Mirza settle the matters alone.

“It is a personal matter involving Malik, Mirza and even Ayesha. It is something they have to resolve among themselves. Why spoil their happiness?” asked Saud.

Actress Meera, on the other hand, maintained that the media coverage on Ayesha’s allegations has helped garner support for Shoaib in India.

“The way he is being portrayed in the Indian media, there is a lot of sympathy for him now,” she said.

Hyderabad girl Ayesha and her family have claimed that Shoaib had married her over phone but later dumped her due to 'weight issues'.

The cricketer has been maintaining that Ayesha’s family had cheated him by sending photographs of a different girl and he had backed out when he found out that he had been duped.

Ayesha has moved criminal proceedings against Shoaib and the later has also been questioned at the Mirzas residence at Hyderabad on Monday.

Shoaib and Sania are scheduled to tie the knot on April 15 at Hyderabad.