Baroda’s 29-year-old batter Vishnu Solanki showed great grit and determination as he scored a century in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2022 season despite losing his newborn daughter on February 11, 2022.
He made the gritty ton against Chandigarh just days after his daughter died on the day after she was born. Vishnu, who was in a bio-bubble, left for his hometown to attend the funeral when all he wanted was to hold his bundle of joy in his arms and plant that first kiss on her forehead.
An official from the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) stated that Vishnu was under no compulsion after his daughter’s death to resume playing, and could have stayed back with his family. Solanki missed Baroda’s match against Bengal.
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The official further added that the batter did not want to leave his team behind, and it is this quality that makes Vishnu a special person.
“Vishnu had the option of not returning after his daughter’s death but the team man that he is, he didn’t want to leave his team in the lurch. That’s what makes him a special human being,” said the official to PTI.
However, the 29-year-old has faced another blow as he lost his father the news of which he received on the final day of the Ranji match on Sunday. His father was fighting with an illness for quite some time and passed away at a hospital in his hometown.
The secretary of the Baroda Cricket Association Ajit Lele said that Vishnu Solanki was given an option to leave the game and go back home but he decided to stay with the team.
“When we got to know about his father’s death, we informed the team manager. The manager told us that he would stay back. It showed his commitment towards the game and his team,” Lele said.
Furthermore, his teammate and Baroda captain Kedar Devdhar revealed that Solanki watched the last rites of his father on a video call.
“Later, we came to know that his father passed away, Vishnu saw his father’s last rites in one corner of the dressing room, on a video call. It was really tough for him, but the courage he showed has been remarkable,” Baroda captain Kedar Devdhar recounted after their Ranji Trophy game on Sunday.
“His father was sick for the past two months and was in the hospital. Over the past two months, he had been dealing with a medical emergency. Vishnu wouldn’t have been able to reach home on time even if he tried. But hats off to him that he played cricket and excelled, carrying an overload of grief. Little did we know that another tragedy would unfold so soon,” said the Baroda captain.
The Baroda team will next face Hyderabad from March 3 and one wishes that Vishnu gets some time to grieve. He probably hasn’t yet got time to figure out what it is to lose a child and a parent within a space of two weeks.
(PTI inputs)
