After day-old daughter's death, Ranji cricketer Vishnu Solanki loses father

Vishnu Solanki is one among hundreds of domestic cricketers who turn up every year in their pristine whites to play the Ranji Trophy with a lot of enthusiasm but less of hope with very little scope of breaking the elite doorBut in the last two weeks the 29yearold from Baroda has shown that when it comes to showing nerves of steel in times of tragedy he is one in a millionNot many people have the courage to turn up in a firstclass game after losing his new born and then score a hundred only to get the news of his fatherrsquos death and watch the funeral on a video callThis Vishnu isnrsquot God he is a mere human who is dealing with Herculean tragedyIt 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 lifeBut a day later the infant died in hospital and Vishnu who was in a biobubble 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 foreheadInstead he was performing the last rites as Baroda geared up for their match against Bengal which he missedNo one would have mind if Vishnu would have stayed back to be by his wifersquos side when she needed him the most but for domestic cricketers Ranji Trophy is one of the primary sources of livelihood and missing matches in a curtailed season is losing out on hard earned moneySo 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 manHe smashed a hundred perhaps reminded of a Sachin Tendulkar who was back in Bristol days after his fatherrsquos death as his mother Rajni didnrsquot want him to forget his national dutyNot to forget a young Virat Kohl who scored a 97 and attended his fatherrsquos last ritesBut here was a man who lost his daughter and then concentrated hard enough to score 103 with 12 boundariesOne needs a sneak peek at his mindsetBut if that wasnrsquot enough on the final day of the Ranji match on Sunday Vishnu got a call from the manager to come inside and was given the news that his ailing father who has been battling severe illness has passed away at a hospital in his home townldquoVishnu had the option of not returning after his daughterrsquos death but the team man that he is he didnrsquot want to leave his team in the lurch Thatrsquos what makes him a special human beingrdquo a BCA official told PTIThe next match starts from March 3 where Baroda meet Hyderabad but one wishes that Vishnu gets some time to grieve He probably hasnrsquot yet got time to figure out what it is to lose a child and a parent within a space of two weeksOne doesnrsquot know if Vishnu Solanki will ever wear the India shirt but when it comes to steely temperament he is right up thereThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever