Pakistani medium pacer Mohammad Asif's marriage controversy took a new turn today with actress Veena Malik disclosing that he had proposed to her, but she had rejected the proposal.
"Asif had proposed to me, but I turned down the proposal since, at present, nothing is more important to me than my career," Malik said.
Reports about Asif marrying Malik in London had been doing the rounds in the Pakistani media for the past few days. The reports went on to claim that Asif had promised to make his marriage public once he had made a comeback in the national cricket team.
Malik has consistently denied the reports. She said photographs of her hugging Asif, shown by a channel and published in some newspapers, were taken during the Basant festival in Lahore.
"I am good friends with Asif, but we have not married," she said. "The day I get married, I will do it publicly as I have nothing to hide from anyone."
The reports had also claimed that Malik had borne all the expenses incurred by Asif on lawyers' fees for fighting his doping suspension case, and that the Test player was using her car.
Malik rejected these claims, too, saying she had loaned the car to a common friend and not Asif.
Though Asif will complete his 12-month ban after failing a dope test during the Indian Premier League only on September 22, he was, on Wednesday, included in Pakistan's preliminary list of 30 probables for the Champions Trophy in South Africa in September.
