Pakistan cricket player Shoaib Malik and Indian tennis star Sania Mirza married on Monday after a troubled engagement. Some people call it a union that will bridge the two nations’ bitter sporting and political divide. However, only time will tell if there is any such possibility even exist as a result of this marriage.

The ceremony took place in the presence of family and friends at a hotel in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. The marriage was originally scheduled for April 15, however, it had been brought forward after Muslim clerics in Hyderabad criticized the fact that Shoaib was living in his future bride’s house before the wedding.

The stand-off after the Mumbai terrorist attacks extended to the sporting world, with a freeze on non-tournament matches between their respective national cricket teams. Shoaib and Sania’s sporting marriage is unprecedented in the perennial rivalry between the south Asian nations, and some right-wing Hindu groups in India had denounced the union, accusing Sania Mirza of betraying her country.