'Sania can't play for India'

In a hard-hitting editorial in Saamna, Thackeray said whom to love and whom to marry “is Sania’s personal matter and must remain so.” However, he took exception to her wish to continue to play for India after her marriage.

“If she wished to play for India, she should have chosen an Indian life partner,” the octogenarian leader wrote. After her marriage to Shoaib Malik, “Sania will not remain an Indian.  Had her heart been Indian, it wouldn’t have beaten for a Pakistani,” Thackeray said.

Raising doubts on her accomplishments as an “international tennis player,” Thackeray wondered which international tournaments Sania won.

“More than victories on tennis court, Sania became famous for her tight clothes, fashion and love affairs,” he wrote.  “More than her play, people’s attention was on her mannerisms.”

The Shiv Sena supremo alleged that “for Shoaib, India is an enemy, not only in sports arena but also on the battlefield.

“We have heard that Shoaib has many affairs in India and has promised many girls that he will marry them,” Thackeray said. In this connection, he referred to the controversy surrounding Shoaib’s alleged first wife, Ayesha Siddiqui, whose father has sought a proper divorce for his daughter from the Pakistani cricketer before marrying Sania.