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Watson Leaves India To Be With Pregnant Wife

11 March 2013
Watson Leaves India To Be With Pregnant Wife
Watson Leaves India To Be With Pregnant Wife
Shane Watson is heading back to Australia and will miss the final two Tests in India
©REUTERS / Action Images

Australian vice-captain Shane Watson is on his way back to Australia, leaving his country's tour of India to be alongside his pregnant wife.

He was going miss the final match due to the pregnancy but after he was one of four players dropped for the third Test, which starts on Thursday (14th March) due to a breach of discipline, he has made the decision to depart early.

Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja and James Pattinson were all stood down after failing to complete a team assignment.

Watson is on his way home to be with his wife, Lee Furlong, who is now expecting the couple's first child earlier than anticipated.

Watson played in the first two matches of the series, Australia losing both to trail 2-0 with two matches remaining.

"Overnight, things have changed and Lee wasn't going to tell me things had changed because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play this Test match," Watson said.

"It was due in a couple of weeks but it's looking like things have sped up a little bit," he added.

© Cricket World 2013

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Fixtures & Results

22nd-26th February: 1st Test, Chennai
IND 572 & 50-2 beat AUS 380 & 241 by 8 wickets: Report
2nd-6th March: 2nd Test, Hyderabad
IND 503 beat AUS 237-9d. & 131 by inns. & 135 runs: Report
14th-18th March: 3rd Test, Mohali
IND 499 & 136-4 beat AUS 408 & 233 by 6 wickets: Report
22nd-26th March: 4th Test, Delhi
IND 272 & 158-4 beat AUS 262 & 164 by 6 wickets: Report