As a cricketer, Hassan Ali is bound by ‘boundaries’. But beyond the sporting arena, the 25-year-old right-arm medium fast bowler doesn’t seem to believe in boundaries.

Hassan’s wedding to India-origin girl Samiya Arzoo, which took place in Dubai on Tuesday, comes at a time when Indo-Pak relations, diplomatically that is, are tied in knots, the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir being the trigger.

In an atmosphere of everyday tension, where the two countries often spar like disgruntled siblings, Hassan-Samiya’s wedding comes across as a welcome distraction, one that forces political bragging to take a backseat.

Not just politically. To talk of sports, on Thursday, India’s Davis Cup tie against Pakistan was postponed to November after an in-depth security review by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The tie was due to be played on September 14-15 in Islamabad.

In February earlier this year, an Indian event management company had pulled out as the official producer of Pakistan’s T20 cricket league in the wake of the Pulwama attack.

However, Hassan-Samiya’s marriage in Dubai, which is not many nautical miles away from India and Pakistan, has successfully maintained its distance from the prevalent bitterness between the neighbours, or rather their political dispensations.

According to reports in Gulf News, Hassan danced to the tune of Indian songs during his wedding to Dubai-based Samiya, a flight engineer by profession. Samiya’s roots are in Haryana but she lives in Dubai with her parents and has some family members in New Delhi.

Photos and videos from the wedding were all over social media. The happy occasion was mostly attended by friends and relatives and lacked high-profile personalities. Shadab Khan, a 20-year-old leg-spinner who too has played international cricket for Pakistan, was the most recognisable face from the sporting world, reports say.

Hassan in a black sherwani and Samiya in an extravagant red lehenga seemed colourful ambassadors of a happy bonding.

A report even detailed the sumptuous meal — a mix of Arabic and Asian cuisines — that was served to the guests. Peshwari karahi, biryani, vegetable rice, steamed mutton, aalu methis, mutton Karachi and Arabic mixed-grill. Tension, thankfully, wasn’t on the menu.

Barring Shadab, none of Hassan’s Pakistan teammates was visible at the function. They might have been preparing for a 17-day training camp, which got underway in Lahore on Thursday under former captain Misbah-ul Haq.

Though this is not the first time that India and Pakistan have bonded over a wedding with cricket as the backdrop, the game cannot be solely credited for being the matchmaker in this case. That is because Samiya is no fan of cricket. Not even remotely.

Speaking to mediapersons recently, Samiya was candid in her admission that she had never watched cricket before Hassan happened to her.

“I have never watched (cricket)… Since I met him, I’ve started watching cricket. He is the only one I am watching. I don’t understand anything, I just watch him, my focus is on him,” Samiya said. The “focus” bit has all the essence of a newly-married couple. India and Pakistan, separately or collectively, doesn’t exist there.

But with the clouds of disharmony never too far away, Samiya, perhaps, thought it sensible to add: “I’m very thankful to my family who took it so positively… Even the people of India and Pakistan, the media, I’m thankful to everyone.”

Hassan, by the way, happens to be the fourth Pakistan cricketer to marry an Indian girl. Mohsin Khan, a former Pakistan batsman, married Indian actress Reena Roy in 1983, while former captain Zaheer Abbas married Rita Luthra in 1988. More recently, in 2010, Shoaib Malik tied the knot with Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza.

Sania wished a “lifetime of love and happiness” to Hassan-Samiya via Twitter.

It’s worthy mentioning that barring Mohsin-Reena, the other two couples have so far passed the test of time. Mohsin, who had settled in India after marriage and had also acted in Bollywood films, separated from Reena in the early 90s.

Talking of Bollywood, the theme of ‘cross-border matrimony’ has given the industry some of its biggest hits — Veer-Zaara, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha — though they did not only preach love.

But somewhere deep below the surface tension, there is perhaps a hint of love and peace. In Hassan’s cricketing parlance, the wicket has life in it.