It's a boy for Shikhar Dhawan

After getting man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series for his on-field exploits, now it’s Shikhar Dhawan turn to be crowned man-of-the-moment for an entirely off-field achievement — the dashing batsman is now a father. His stunning wife already had two daughters from a previous marriage, so Dhawan had something of a readymade family when he tied the knot with Ayesha Mukherji in late 2012.

The half-Brit, half-Bengali stunner had been introduced to moustache twirling cricketer by Harbhajan Singh on Facebook and it was apparently love at first sight despite their 12 year age difference. Ayesha’s entry into his life has coincided with an extraordinarily successful phase in his career — he smashed the fastest century by a Test debutant against Australia in Mohali, followed it up with a stunning performance in the Champions Trophy and was then elevated to captain of Sunrisers. So while the whole of 2013 was a succession of awards and rewards for Dhawan, the icing on the cake was the birth of a bonny son who completes the family portrait by joining his sisters Rhea and Aliyah.

While Shikhar was busy with the South Africa tour when Ayesha was wheeled into the labour room of a Melbourne hospital on December 26, he caught a flight immediately to be by her side for a couple of weeks. The busy cricket season offers little respite for personal matters, so he had to fly back to India to join the team before it left for the New Zealand series last Saturday. He’s now just a two-hour flight away from his wife and children — another stroke of continuing good luck?