Eye on India: Dubai a cosy home for Sania-Shoaib?

To borrow a term from the ramps and fashion shows, the news of Sania-Shoaib marriage has been an absolute showstopper.

If the spunky Hyderabad girl has, in the past, often stolen the thunder from the cricketers in terms of attention from the media and sponsors, she had certainly saved the best one for the last.

Right in the middle of the all-consuming focus on IPL, it has certainly sent the Indian media into a tizzy and got the entire sub-continent talking.

The people of Pakistan has welcomed the news with open arms, some of her sponsors have been left a little stumped at her move — while the reality of it all must have left legion of her male admirers heartbroken!

Having been associated in this business for a long time now, one can say this is going to be the ‘big' one both in terms of surprise and its attributes of a Bollywood script.

One can reel off a series of such movies based on cross-border romance, and it's only a matter of time before some intrepid producer announces his new film with a take-off on the Sania-Shoaib story.

The other day, Sania said the couple were not trying to make a ‘political statement' through their relationship and sought the privacy she deserves after living a life of intense public scrutiny during her entire playing career.

And, this could well be the reason for their choosing to settle in Dubai — which has become a favourite spot for the celebs for its lack of media intrusion and quality of life.

The emirate had, for long, been a favourite destination for the Pakistan cricketers, with most of them having relatives and friends here — not to speak of the excellent Pakistani cuisine on offer.

Sania, on the other hand, had often talked of setting up base here when one controversy or the other dogged her back home.

The couple would, actually, be in good company. While Andrew Flintoff and Jelena Jankovic are fulltime residents of Dubai, the likes of Roger Federer and Tiger Woods have a home here — so does the former England football captain John Terry.

One can only imagine the roar from the crowd that would go up when Sania takes to the courts at the Dubai Championships next year.

Meanwhile, our best wishes to the new would-be couple!