‘True inspiration’ – Baroda cricketer smashes century days after demise of his newborn daughter

A Baroda cricketer, Vishnu Solanki who lost his newborn child recently, highlighted the characteristics of a true hero after scoring a century. Vishnu Solanki was in Bhubaneswar for the Ranji Trophy match against Bengal when the unfortunate news reached him. He rushed back to Baroda for his newborn daughter’s funeral before re-joining the team for the Ranji Trophy match against Chandigarh. Just days after joining his team,  Vishnu Solanki hit a century against their counterparts, not losing focus for even an instant. Coming from the challenging loss of his newborn daughter, this is an outstanding display of bravery.

When Solanki came out to bat in the final session, he showed his great mental fortitude and brought up his century. With a pitch that had plenty of assistance for the bowling team, Chandigarh was skittled out for 168. In reply, Solanki’s 104 runs and half-centuries from Bhargav Bhatt and Atit Sheth took Baroda past the 500-run mark.

CEO of Baroda Cricket Association Shishir Hattangadi called Vishnu Solanki an Inspiration and a Real-Life Hero. He tweeted: “Story of a Cricketer who lost his newborn daughter a few days ago. He attends the funeral and gets back to represent his team to get a hundred. His name may not make social media “likes”, but for me #vishnoosolanki is a real-life hero. An inspiration.”

Sheldon Jackson, the Saurashtra wicketkeeper-batter too hailed this knock. “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 a lot of success,” Jackson tweeted.