On Saturday, the Indian deputy skipper in Test cricket, Ajinkya Rahane became a proud father after his wife Radhika Dhopavkar gave birth to a baby girl. The 31-year-old is currently in Visakhapatnam with the Indian team locking horns with South Africa in the first Test of the three-match series against South Africa at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Rahane got hitched with his childhood friend Radhika in 2014. The two had met first in school and remained friends for quite some time before their parents met and arranged their marriage. In July this year, the couple had revealed the news of pregnancy as they both shared a few pictures on Instagram of Radhika flaunting her baby bump.

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Rahane’s former India teammate Harbhajan Singh took to Twitter to break the news as he congratulated Rahane and his family for the arrival of the new member. His tweet read: “Congratulations new daddy in town Ajinkya Rahane. Hope mum and little princess are doing well…fun part of life starts now #fatherhood.”

Congratulations new daddy in town @ajinkyarahane88 hope Mum and lil princess 👸 are doing well.. fun part of life starts now ajju. #fatherhood

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 5, 2019

Notably, Rahane is the latest Indian cricketer who has become a father to a baby girl. The likes of MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh himself, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, and Hanuma Vihari are among the few who have a girl child.

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Have more of milk and milk products. Don’t have that much coffee. And are you taking the supplements you need? Being pregnant means being ready for extra care and extra attention from just about everyone. And the flood of information can only make things confusing. I have found it helpful to stick to the basics and keep track of my daily nutrient intake. Among all nutrients, I got to know how adequate iodine is essential for an expecting mother as well as the baby since first 1000 days of life are considered to be the critical period for Brain development for which Iodine is an essential nutrient.. Thankfully, Tata Salt with iodine is already a part of my diet. Thus, I am not #MissingI. @desh_ka_namak Requesting all mothers @momspresso to pledge their support in raising awareness for #MissingI

A post shared by Radhika Rahane (@radhika_dhopavkar) on Sep 23, 2019 at 9:44pm PDT

Rahane got his form back during the two-match series against West Indies after the ICC World Cup 2019. While the Mumbai batsman did not make the World Cup squad, his return to form has come at the right time as India are hoping to dominate the inaugural edition of World Test Championships. He has played as many as 58 Tests, 90 ODIs and 20 T20Is for India so far.

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Notably, Radhika had taken to social media last week to post a photo of herself with a baby bump with an emotional message. 

In the ongoing Test between India and South Africa, on day 4, India declared at 323/4 after having a lead of 70 runs in the first innings, gave a target of 395 to the Proteas with around 110 overs to bowl for the hosts. At stumps, the Proteas are at 11/1.