T Natarajan to shave off his beard, says his daughter's birth proved to be lucky

While Team India captain Virat Kohli, who has been granted paternity leave, will be with his wife Anushka Sharma when the latter gives birth to their child around the new year, T. Natarajan, the newest member of the T-20I team, will only be able to see his newly-born daughter after three months.

Medium pacer T Natarajan has replaced spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who has been ruled out because of a shoulder injury. If he stays till the end of the entire tour, he will only be able to return in the third week of January.

Natarajan and his wife Pavithra were blessed with a baby girl last week when the 29-year-old medium pacer was playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

"My daughter's birth has proven very lucky for me. I was selected only as a net bowler but am drafted in the main squad now. There can't be better news than this," he said over the telephone from his Dubai hotel room, where he went from IPL bubble to the BCCI bubble.

"I am yet to have a photograph of my daughter. Could only see her on the video call. My wife is still in the hospital and is scheduled to return home in a day or two," he added.

Interestingly, Bharath Reddy, who manages the Chemplast cricket team for which Natarajan plays, said from Chennai that the pacer has grown a beard and had vowed to shave it off only after the birth of the child.

"He was to visit the temple before that," he added. "Yes, now I will pray here and shave off my beard before leaving for Australia," Natarajan confirmed.