Indian cricket star Pathan marries quietly in Makkah

JEDDAH: Well-known Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan married Safa Baig, an Indian woman, who was born in Jeddah and raised here by her Hyderabadi parents.

The marriage was solemnized at a simple ceremony at the Grand Mosque in Makkah on Wednesday. Only a handful of relatives from both sides attended the nikah ceremony.
Irfan’s famous cricketing brother, Yusuf Pathan, and their father, Mehmud Pathan, were among the close family members who attended the marriage. The Pathan family and friends arrived in Jeddah three days ago for the marriage.
Despite having thousands of fans on their Twitter accounts, both brothers shared nothing about the marriage ceremony.
Safa is one of five daughters of Mirza Farooq Baig, a longtime but little known resident of Jeddah. A student of the International Indian School in Jeddah (IISJ), Safa is well known among fashion-savvy and beauty-conscious women for having modeled for companies producing beauty products and abayas. She was raised in Jeddah’s Aziziyah district.
Her pictures from the modeling assignments went viral on social media websites. Two videos on YouTube in which Safa is shown in a Ponds makeup tutorial being conducted by beauty expert Nilo Haq were shared widely. On her Instagram account, Safa describes herself as a “freelance/runway” model.
On Thursday, Safa’s family threw a reception for the bridegroom and his family and select members of their family at Trident Hotel. The celebrations were pretty subdued with only a handful of guests at the reception. Relatives said that was how Irfan wanted it to be — a quiet affair. Irfan plans to throw a big party in his hometown in Baroda, Gujarat.
Some photos on Snapchat showed Safa’s younger sister, Sidra, introducing a smartly dressed and smiling Irfan to family members and acquaintances.
The news of Irfan marrying came as a pleasant surprise to the large Indian community in Jeddah. However, some leading members of the community were disappointed that the cricketer kept it such a closely guarded secret.
“He has a huge fan following here and the community would have loved to throw a big party for the bride and bridegroom,” said Dr. M.S. Karimduddin, a well-known member of the community. “In any case, we wish them both a very happy married life.”
Irfan has been out of the Indian team for quite some time, but has performed well in domestic cricket in recent days. He was all the rage a couple of years ago for spearheading India’s fast-bowling attack. After initial success, he ran out of steam and out of luck, and was dropped from the national team.
His elder brother Yusuf, who got a break into cricket much later than Irfan, has done well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) scoring huge runs for Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team.
At Trident on Thursday, some diehard fans of the Pathan brothers made their way into the hotel’s lobby and took some photographs with them.
“We went to congratulate Irfan and shake hands with Yusuf,” said Syed Mansoor, who was among the select few allowed by Irfan to take photographs. “We were surprised by the low-key affair. We didn’t feel that a marriage reception for a cricket star was taking place at Trident,” he said.