Malik, who will be 26 next month, said in Lahore on Tuesday that he had fallen in love (with a girl called Ayesha Siddiqui) over the internet and on the phone. But when he came to realise in 2005 that the girl’s photograph did not match the girl he had been corresponding with he ended their relationship. He felt he had been duped.

“I was interested in marrying her after she told me she belonged to an Indian Muslim family in Hyderabad and sent me her pictures,” Malik was quoted as saying by Reuters.

His younger brother Imran added: “The girl in the picture never came before us for years and we ended the relationship in 2005 after we came to know something was wrong.

“No marriage was ever solemnized. We are now planning to go to India and file a case for defamation against this family.” The Siddiquis, Reuters say, are also planning court action of their own as the girl’s father claims he has evidence of the marriage.

“I will not speak on this issue any more,” Malik said. “After they tried to dupe us we decided to keep quiet about it because of the girl whose photograph they showed me. But now they are trying to exploit my standing as an international cricketer.”

The story has flitted in and out of the news in India and Pakistan because of the romance and controversy of the marriage, with two coming together from previously warring neighbours.

Malik is now focusing on preparing for next month’s home series against Australia.