Vishnu Solanki hit by twin tragedies: Days after losing newborn daughter, Baroda batter's father passes away

Ranji Trophy 2022: Baroda batsman Vishnu Solanki's father passed away just two weeks after losing his newborn daughter. Vishnu got the news of his father's death and watched the funeral on the video call.

Baroda batter Vishnu Solanki had twin tragedies in just two weeks' time as his father passed away days after he lost his newborn daughter. Vishnu got the news of his father's death and watched the funeral on video call. In the last two weeks, the 29-year-old from Baroda has shown that when it comes to showing nerves of steel in times of tragedy, he is one in a million.

It was on February 10, Vishnu was blessed with a daughter and with the bliss of fatherhood, he was ready to turn a chapter in his life. But a day later, the infant died in hospital and 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.

Instead, he was performing the last rites as Baroda geared up for their match against Bengal, which he missed. No one would have minded if Vishnu stayed back to be by his wife's side when she needed him the most, but for domestic cricketers, the Ranji Trophy is one of the primary sources of livelihood and missing matches in a curtailed season is losing out on hard-earned money.

So, before his teammates could gather their thoughts, Vishnu was back in Cuttack for the second-round game against Chandigarh, trying hard to forget the tragedy that hit the young man.

He smashed a hundred, perhaps reminded of Sachin Tendulkar, who was back in Bristol days after his father's death as his mother Rajni didn't want him to forget his national duty.1

Not to forget a young Virat Kohl, who scored a 97 and attended his father's last rites.

But here was a man who lost his daughter and then concentrated hard enough to score 103 with 12 boundaries.