Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma blessed with a baby girl

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and his actress-wife Anushka Sharma are now parents to a baby girl. Anushka gave birth to the baby girl at Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital today afternoon.

The couple had announced their pregnancy through social media in August 2020.

♥️ pic.twitter.com/js3SkZJTsH

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) January 11, 2021

"We are thrilled to share with you that we have been blessed with a baby girl this afternoon. We thank you for all the love, prayers and good wishes." read a letter posted by the Indian captain on Twitter.

Kohli also added that the baby and Anushka Sharma were both healthy and safe. The 32-year-old urged fans and media to respect the family's privacy in this time.

"We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Love, Virat" the letter read.

Kohli's announcement of the pregnancy in August last year had sent Twitter into a frenzy. He had tweeted saying:

"And then, we were three! Arriving Jan 2021"

The photograph of himself with wife Anushka Sharma was retweeted close to 70K times, and was liked by over 6.4 L users.

And then, we were three! Arriving Jan 2021 ❤️🙏 pic.twitter.com/0BDSogBM1n

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 27, 2020

Notably, the couple also featured among the Top 25 Global Instagram Influencers in the official list of 1000 top Instagram accounts - based on the audience quality and the authentic engagement - released at the end of 2020.

Virat Kohli had flown back to India from Australia on paternity leave

In December 2020, Virat Kohli had opted to take paternity leave and fly back to India from Australia, where the Men in Blue were playing.

The star batsman had left after the team suffered an embarrassing loss against the hosts in the first Test in Adelaide.

In Virat Kohli's absence, Ajinkya Rahane has been entrusted with the leadership role. Under his captaincy, India won the second Test in Melbourne and have managed to draw the third Test in Sydney.