COLOMBO, Oct 22: Sri Lanka's star batsman Sanath Jayasuriya managed to take time off from his team's tour of India for the ongoing Champions Trophy to see his new-born son here.

“It's a great feeling and I was keen to get back home to see the baby,” Jayasuriya said on Sunday as he prepared to depart after seeing his wife and son, both of whom were doing well.

“I was at the hospital when my other two kids were born, but couldn't make it this time as it was on the day of a match. These things happen in a cricketer's life,” he said.

Jayasuriya's wife, Sandra, gave birth to their third child on Friday afternoon when Sri Lanka were playing New Zealand.

Jayasuriya reached Colombo on Saturday morning and left the island on Sunday afternoon to prepare for their last league match against South Africa on Tuesday.

The left-hander became the most capped player in one-day history during the match against New Zealand, in which he bagged two wickets and chipped in with a quickfire 20 runs.

Jayasuriya, one of the stars in Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup triumph, has scored 11,257 runs and bagged 282 wickets in 369 one-dayers.—AFP