Sources said Ayesha met Shoaib in a Dubai restaurant in 2001 along with her friend Maha. While Ayesha is a little plump, Maha was pretty and Shoaib fell for her. “On returning to Hyderabad, Ayesha posing as Maha started chatting with Shoaib,” sources said. Ayesha apparently fell in love with the cricketer and convinced her parents to contact his parents and arrange for a telephonic nikah. In 2005, when the Pakistan cricket team was in Hyderabad, the Siddiquis hosted a grand reception for them. “Shoaib became suspicious when he expressed his desire to meet Ayesha and her parents said she was out of town,” sources said.
Ayesha who was working as a school teacher in Dubai then reportedly sent her actual photograph to Shoaib. This apparently made the player snap all ties with her. He said the Siddiquis had cheated him. At a press conference in Lahore in January 2008, Shoaib’s brother-in-law Imran Malik said: “He wanted to marry Ayesha. But the photos Siddiqui showed him were not of his real daughter. They tried to commit fraud.” Siddiqui threatened to move the court and said Shoaib could not marry another girl without divorcing Ayesha. “But, with Shoaib threatening to press cheating charges against them, Ayesha’s family dropped the idea,” sources added.