Former India captain Virat Kohli and his wife, Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, took to Instagram on Tuesday (February 20) to share news of the birth of their second child, a baby boy. The star couple has named their newborn son “Akaay”. Reports circulating since September 2023 suggested that Kohli and Sharma were expecting their second child. Despite widespread speculation, the power couple chose not to confirm the news officially.

“With abundant happiness and our hearts full of love. we are pleased to inform everyone that on 15th February, we welcomed our baby boy Akaay/ & Vamika’s little brother into this world! We seek your blessings and good wishes in this beautiful time in our lives. We request you to kindly respect our privacy at this time”, Virat-Anushka announced on Instagram.

When Virat Kohli opted to skip the entire India vs England five-match Test series, speculations arose surrounding the possibility of him and his wife, Anushka, welcoming their second child. Industrialist Harsh Goenka recently added fuel to the rumors with a cryptic tweet, indirectly hinting at the couple, without explicitly mentioning their names.

“A new baby is to be born in the next few days! Hope the baby takes India to great heights like the greatest cricketing father. Or will it follow the mother and be a film star?,” Goenka wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). 

Affectionately called as “Virushka” by their fans, Virat and Anushka started dating in 2013. Following years of dating, the couple tied the knot in December 2017 in Tuscany, Italy.

When Virat revealed how wife Anushka Sharma stopped him from becoming an ‘egoistic maniac’

During 2022-23, Virat Kohli encountered what can be termed as the most challenging phase of his cricketing career that took a toll on him mentally. Consequently, he made the decision to take a break from the sport to address his mental well-being.

Last year, during a conversation with Robin Uthappa on JioCinema, Virat Kohli recalled about Anushka Sharma stopped him from becoming an ‘egoistic maniac’.

“When you go back from a space like this. It’s easy immediately to go like ‘ah, everything is so good and it’s okay’. That’s why I say Anushka’s name first because she has seen the challenges of being in this position. She knows it. She has been there for so many years. She knows what it takes to handle public pressure. So, her conversations with me has always been priceless. She tells me the truth, simple,” Kohli said.

“There is no mollycoddling. Because no one else is (real). there are always so many layers. She is like, my responsibility is to tell you the truth. So, how she spoke to during that phase was something that kept me in check. If I was left by myself just to figure it out, I would have become egoistic maniac. I would have become snappier, even more cranky but for her to keep bringing me down to the base level where two people should be at the same level, to be normal, to grow together,” he said.