Having lost his newborn daughter just 10 days ago, Baroda’s Vishnu Solanki was in a state of pain. However, the batter showed immense determination and spirit to slam a fine hundred in his team’s Ranji Trophy Elite Group B clash against Chandigarh at Cuttack on Friday (February 25).
Solanki had travelled to Bhubaneswar along with his Baroda teammates on February 6, excited that the Ranji Trophy was finally resuming after the tournament was cancelled last season due to the pandemic. He received more good news on February 11 as his wife gave birth to a baby girl. However, the happiness turned to misery in the next 24 hours with the news of his newborn’s death.
Solanki flew back to Vadodara the next day and attended the funeral of his daughter. Three days later, he boarded a flight back to Bhubaneswar.
After completing his mandatory isolation period, the batter hit the nets on February 23 – on the eve of the match against Chandigarh.
The experienced campaigner was picked in the playing XI for the game which got underway on Thursday (February 24).
On Day 2, Vishnu Solanki exhibited his mental strength as he smashed an unbeaten 103 off 161 balls (12 fours) to help Baroda reach 398/7 in reply to Chandigarh’s first innings total of 168.
Impressed by Solanki’s dedication level, Saurashtra batter Sheldon Jackson tweeted: “What a player . Has to be the toughest player i have known. A big salute to vishnu and his family by no means this is easy. wish you many more hundreds and alot of success.”
Cricket fans too hailed the Baroda cricketer for his terrific hundred days after losing his newborn daughter.
Here are the reactions:
