Baroda batter Vishnu Solanki has been facing a lot on the personal front. Solanki lost his father and day-old daughter in a span of two weeks. The player was in quarantine with the squad in Cuttack when on February 11, he received the news that his wife had given birth to a daughter and Solanki was delighted.
But on February 12, Baroda team manager Dharmendra Arothe, woke the batter around midnight to tell him that his daughter had passed away. Solanki returned home and missed the side’s first match against Bengal.
He later joined the team back on February 17 for the second match against Chandigarh and scored a hundred for the side.
"He said he had dedicated the century to his daughter," team manager Arothe told ESPNcricinfo on February 25.
The Baroda batsman was then struck by another tragedy. The team manager had called Solanki to the dressing room all of a sudden while he was fielding and told that his father who had been ailing for a while passed away on Sunday morning.
“Later, we came to know that his father passed away,” Baroda captain Kedar Devdhar said according to The Indian Express.
“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.”
The Baroda Cricket Association stood by Vishnu who decided to stay back for the match.
“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,” the state association secretary Ajit Lele said.