Jonty Rhodes names baby daughter 'India'

Jonty Rhodes

Former South African cricketer and current fielding coach of the Mumbai Indians, Jonty Rhodes has named his baby daughter ‘India’. His wife, Melanie, gave birth to the girl at Surya Mother and Child Care hospital in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, on Thursday afternoon.

The girl had a water birth, which is quite common in countries like England and the United States of America (USA) but not so in India. The process of giving a water birth is said to be less stressful for the mother.

Rhodes, who scored 2532 runs in 52 Tests & 5935 runs in 245 ODIs and was considered one of the greatest fielders there’s ever been during his playing days, played his last international match for the Proteas in 2003. Over the last few years, he has been active in the IPL as the fielding coach of the Mumbai Indians, as a result of which, he spends quite a lot of time in the country every year.

Interestingly, Rhodes is not the first cricketer to name his child after a place or country, with West Indies legend Brian Lara having named his daughter ‘Sydney’ because of scoring his first Test century in the city while former New Zealand bowler Dion Nash also named his daughter ‘India’.

@mipaltan good luck tonight from baby Rhodes!! India Jeanne Rhodes born 3:29pm weighing 3.7kg! Mum and baby perfect #ApunKaSuperstars

— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) April 23, 2015