Rohit Sharma and Ritika Sajdeh announce birth of baby boy with a 'Friends' post

Rohit Sharma and wife Ritika Sajdeh. File pic

India captain Rohit Sharma and his wife, Ritika Sajdeh, on Saturday announced the arrival of their newborn child.

Rohit Sharma took to Instagram to share the news, revealing that their family of three had now grown to four, with a subtle reference to the beloved sitcom 'Friends'. He wrote, "The FAMILY, the one where we are four."

Rohit Sharma captioned the post with the date "15.11.2024," indicating the birth date of their second child. The couple have a daughter Samaira, who was born in 2018.

Rohit Sharma did not travel with the Indian team to Perth ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series opener owing to the birth of his second child. With less than a week remaining before the series begins, it is still uncertain whether Rohit will feature in the opening Test against Australia.

Meanwhile, Rohit's compatriot KL Rahul and actress Athiya Shetty are also soon to be parents. The couple recently announced their pregnancy on Instagram with a note: "Our beautiful blessing is coming soon. 2025 (baby feet emojis)." The post also featured clip art of the evil eye.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have both been included in India's squad for the series. The much-anticipated Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia kicks off on November 22, with the first Test in Perth.

The second Test, a day-night fixture, will be held under lights at Adelaide Oval from December 6-10. Fans will then turn their attention to The Gabba in Brisbane for the third Test, which will be held from December 14-18. The traditional Boxing Day Test, scheduled from December 26-30, will take place at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground and will mark the penultimate stage of the series.

The fifth and final Test will be held at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3-7, 2025, and promises to be a thrilling climax to what is expected to be a highly competitive series.

India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar

Travelling reserves
Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

Australia Squad for BGT Series Opener
Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

(With ANI inputs)