Cricketers proliferate joy among their fans and with the heights of success, the expectations from them shoot up prodigiously. But at the end of the day, they are no different from a normal human being with numerous aspirations of life.
Some of them had a new member making his/her way into the family. With 2016 itching to say goodbye and 2017 knocking on the doors, let’s have a look at the players who became fathers in this year.
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#1 Alastair Cook
Alastair Cook and wife Alice Hunt said hello to their second baby daughter in the month of October. England were touring Bangladesh for a three-match ODI series and a two-match Test series at that time.
England had pulled off a heist by 2-1 in the ODI series and looked to carry forward the momentum to the Tests. Cook not being a member of the ODI setup, attended his daughter’s birth, but had to return within 18 hours of her birth as he had to lead England in the Test series.
Strangled by the guilt of not being able to abide by the responsibilities of a husband and wife, Cook highlighted his duty towards his national side. During the first Test at Chittagong, he became England’s highest capped player as a Test cricketer, surpassing the legendary Alec Stewart.
#2 Suresh Raina
In the previous eight seasons of the Indian Premier League, Raina didn’t miss a single game - a testament to his stupendous fitness standards. He eventually missed the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 14, 2016 and the reason is not associated with cricket.
Priyanka Chaudhary, his wife, was pregnant and he had to fly to Amsterdam to be with his beloved. Raina tied the knot with his childhood friend Priyanka on April 3, 2015 after the conclusion of the Cricket World Cup in Down Under.
On May 10, 2016 at 1730 hrs IST, the duo was blessed with a baby girl at a private hospital in Amsterdam and she was named Gracia. Raina returned to play the match against the Mumbai Indians in Kanpur in which he bludgeoned his way to 58 runs from 36 runs and won the match for Gujrat Lions.
#3 Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh is known for foxing the best batsmen with his Doosra, but this time it’s the turn of Geeta Basra to deceive him with a pehla (first) - pehla in terms of welcoming their first baby daughter and she was named Hinaya Heer Plaha. Harbhajan had previously flown to London to be with his pregnant wife in July.
Harbhajan and Geeta Basra married in Harbhajan’s ancestral home on the 29th October 2015. The duo had been dating for five years before they decided to take their relationship a step forward.
Apart from his marriage stint, Bhajji’s cricketing stint hasn’t leapfrogged with chances of a comeback looking bleak. Harbhajan has been a brilliant servant for India, picking up 400+ wickets Tests and 250+ wickets in ODIs, which can’t be disregarded by any stretch of the imagination.
#4 Chris Gayle
Gayle was having a torrid time of it in the 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League with scores of 1 and 0 in the couple of matches he played. Nevertheless, from the personal front, he had a lot to cheer about as he travelled to Jamaica to attend his pregnant wife Natasha Berridge.
Chris Gayle missed a contest against the Mumbai Indians as the couple gave birth to a baby girl and named her Blush. Quite expectedly the media linked it with the controversy between Chris Gayle and Mel McLaughlin during a contest in the Big Bash League in Australia in 2015.
Nonetheless, his IPL form never took off as he was dropped from the XI for a couple of games. He played his best innings of 76 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final, but it wasn’t enough to win Royal Challengers Bangalore the game and the trophy.
#5 Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan is the latest in the list of daddies in 2016 when he and wife Safa Baig became proud parents of a baby son on 21st December. After the auspicious moment, Irfan in a tweet mentioned that the essence of the feeling is beyond words.
Irfan and Safa got hitched in a low-key marriage earlier this year with the wedding ceremony being hosted in Mecca. As per reports Irfan has named his son as Imran Khan Pathan- a name inspired from the Pakistani great Imran Khan.
His cricketing aspirations took a dip as he wasn’t retained by the Rising Pune Super-Giants for the 2017 edition of the IPL. In the previous season, he got a handful of games and didn’t get enough opportunities. It will be interesting to see his fate during the auctions.
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