Don’t pretend you didn’t Google him immediately. Last night, Malala Yousafzai’s brilliant autumn wedding photos appeared on Instagram-everyone’s first question is, who is the boy?
Immediately after: How long have they been together? What changed the mind of the Nobel Peace Prize winner after he expressed doubts about marriage this summer? “I still don’t understand why people have to get married,” Yousafzai, 24, told Vogue in July.
The activist told her 2.1 million fans that she “tied” her partner Asser Malik at a small Islamic ceremony in Birmingham, calling it a “precious day” in her life. He is a Pakistani cricketer, believed to be in his early thirties. “Please send us your prayers. We are very happy to move forward together.”
So who is the strong cricketer who stole Yousafzai’s heart, and how long have they been together?
Shared passion for sports
Yousafzai is known for her activist efforts, but both she and Malik love sports. In her Instagram profile, the 24-year-old called herself “a girl’s education advocate, @malalafund Co-founder, cricket fan”, judging from his grid appearance, this third hobby provides clues about how she and her husband met.
according to LinkedIn, Malik is the High Performance General Manager of the Pakistan Cricket Committee, the governing body of Pakistan’s cricket. He has been working there since May 2020 and previously served as the operations manager of the amateur Pakistan Premier League team Multan Sultan.
Other positions listed on his LinkedIn page include 16 months at Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Ltd. and 14 months as the managing director of the player management agency.
But it’s obvious cricket It is Malik’s most passionate sport. He previously worked at Grassroots Cricket in Lahore, and his Instagram is an archive of the highlights of cricket matches over the years, from taking photos with the mascot in his first post in April 2019 to traveling to the U.S. Cricket Open and Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.
According to a recent post, his famous friends include former England cricketer Gareth Barty (currently coach of Surrey) and Pakistani cricketer Ali Shafik.
His new wife, Yousafzai, has also been a cricket fan since childhood.Last year, the activist revealed that she participated in the sport while studying Oxford, Joined the college cricket club and played for her college. In July, she talked about the sexism she experienced while growing up in the sport.
“As a girl, I like to play cricket with my friends and brothers. But I noticed that the boy would throw a slower ball at me, assuming the girl was afraid of hitting the ball,” she wrote InstagramAnd added that she always yelled at the boys, telling them to throw the ball out as if she were a boy.
She said the sport taught her to be courageous, competitive and resilient-characteristics that played a key role in her struggle for girls’ education and equality.
The beginning of the secret
Of course, fans quickly guessed where Yousafzai and her husband met. Has their family introduced it?Are they in University?
The Nobel Prize winner graduated from her PPE degree Oxford university Last year, Malik graduated from Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan in Economics and Political Science in 2012.
Since the degrees are eight years apart and on different continents, the couple is unlikely to meet at the university-but they must have similar academic interests.
Social media suggests that it is more likely that cricket brought the pair together.The first public photo of the couple was released by Malik in June 2019 as part of the group photo Main Cricket court. “@Homeofcricket best day,” he captioned the photo on Instagram and tagged three accounts including Yousafzai. Maybe the pair was introduced through a mutual cricket friend.
Three days later, Malik shared the second Instagram with Yousafzai as the protagonist, this time on Edgbaston Birmingham Stadium in her hometown. “Come on for Pakistan,” he captioned the photo and tagged the activist next to three other friends.
Since then, Malik’s posts-mainly on the subject of cricket-did not show up his new activist wife until their wedding photo appeared this week. Since the 2019 summer meeting, has the couple been dating secretly?
In any case, the secret was finally revealed. Last night, photos of the two holding hands staring into each other’s eyes were posted on their Instagram grid. Yousafzai posted a long caption tagging the official wedding photographer and makeup artist, while Malik kept it simple with a heart-shaped emoji.
Malik’s latest post before the wedding was shared in March: Two smiling solo shots are labeled “Weekend Happiness.” Sharp-eyed fans may have found their congratulations message in the comments below-is this the weekend he and Yousafzai got engaged?
Yusufzai told Fashion A few months later, she didn’t understand why people had to get married, but if there were any suggestions on social media, then she was already engaged. Maybe-in true cover girl style-this has actually been a trick.
