Just a few days after losing newborn daughter, Baroda's Vishnu Solanki scores Ranji Trophy hundred

Baroda cricketer Vishnu Solanki, who scored a hundred against Chandigarh in a Ranji Trophy 2022 encounter on Friday, lost his newborn daughter a few days back. He braved the personal tragedy and came up with a fine knock on Day 2 of the Elite Group B (Round 2) match in Bhubaneswar.

Responding to Chandigarh’s first-innings score of 168, Baroda ended Day 2 on 398 for 7 to gain a significant lead of 230 runs. Coming in to bat at No. 5, Solanki returned unbeaten on 103 off 161 balls. His impressive knock featured 12 hits to the fence. Opener Jyotsnil Singh also contributed 96 before being run out as Baroda dominated the Chandigarh bowling attack.

Saurashtra’s wicketkeeper batter Sheldon Jackson took to Twitter to hail Solanki for scoring a century despite having suffered a massive tragedy in his personal life. The 35-year-old wrote:

“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.”

Baroda Cricket Association CEO Shishir Hattangadi also saluted the batter and tweeted:

“Story of a Cricketer who lost his new born 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!”

According to a report in Hindustan Times, the 29-year-old received the news regarding the birth of his daughter past midnight on February 11. However, within 24 hours, he was informed that the newborn had died.

The grieving cricketer, who was in Bhubaneswar along with his Baroda teammates, flew back to Vadodara to attend the funeral of his daughter. However, three days later, he took a flight back to Bhubaneswar.

Baroda lost their opening match to Bengal by four wickets, which Solanki missed. Having completed his quarantine period, he joined his teammates in the nets on February 23, a day before the game against Chandigarh.

Vishnu Solanki’s domestic career

The right-handed batter made his first-class debut against Tamil Nadu in Vadodara in 2015. He has scored over 1500 runs in first-class cricket and more than 1000 runs in List A matches.

He grabbed the headlines for smacking an unbeaten 71 off 46 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarterfinal against Haryana last year. The batter clobbered 6, 4 and 6 off the last three balls to lift his side to victory.

In his previous match, he scored 94 against Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in December 2021.