Salman Khan had once told a tabloid that if he ever got married, he would make the announcement himself. He also went on to say that he would love to have two or three children. And then he made that typically Salman quip: “Yes, I'd like to have a child but the problem with that is with the child the mother comes along. If I can avoid the mother and have a child I wouldn't mind two or three!”

That quote of his sprang to mind when we laid eyes on the utterly adorable pictures that have surfaced of him getting cuddly with cricketer Irfan Pathan’s little toddler. Promoting his upcoming release Race 3 at the grand finale of IPL 2018 yesterday, Salman was part of the commentary team with Irfan Pathan and co-star Anil Kapoor. In the dressing room, he also met Irfan’s darling tot, Imran.

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Salman is extremely baby-friendly and has had loads of experience with his many nieces and nephews. In no time at all, he had scooped up little Imran in his brawny arms and had charmed him completely. Who can help cooing over the pics of the smallie playing with Salman’s trademark bracelet? He looks happy and comfortable in the Khan’s arms, as they bond sweetly.

Proud daddy Irfan couldn’t resist sharing the pics of this cute encounter between his tot and Bhai. The tot is a mini-celeb as well, with close to 16K followers on his Instagram account.

Incidentally, Salman is a big fan of the game and has previously revealed that his father, Salim Khan had wanted him to play cricket. “That could have happened easily but I just didn’t see myself going for cricket practice at 5:30 in the morning. This life is as it is difficult for me, cricket would have been very difficult,” he had quipped.

He had shared that Salim Durani had been hired to be his coach. “The first day, he saw me play, I played very well. The second day, I did really well so he called my father the third day and said your son has got a very bright future. That is the day I realized, my father came to see me play... so I should play really badly.”

And thus did cricket lose a possible superstar!