Grieving Solanki hits unbeaten ton for Baroda in Ranji
MUMBAI: Baroda’s Vishnu Solanki was grieving, having lost his new-born daughter just 10 days earlier. The batter overcame his personal loss to score a fine hundred and take his team to a position of strength in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B game against Chandigarh at the Vikash Cricket Ground, Cuttack on Friday.
The 29-year-old batter had reached Bhubaneswar along with his Baroda teammates on February 6, excited that the premier domestic competition was finally resuming after the tournament was cancelled in 2021 due to the pandemic. He received more good news, the birth of his daughter past midnight on February 11. That joy turned to despair within 24 hours as he received news that the newborn had died. A distraught Solanki flew back the next day, reaching Vadodara in the evening to attend the funeral of his newborn. But three days later, he took a flight back to Bhubaneswar.
In Cuttack, Baroda had lost their opening match to Bengal by four wickets and their chances of advancing from Elite Group B hung by a thread. After serving his mandatory quarantine period, the batter joined his teammates for net practice on February 23, a day before the match against Chandigarh.
The experienced player was straightaway drafted into the playing eleven for the game that started on Thursday. Getting to bat on Day 2, Solanki made a difference. Coming in at No 5, he scored an unbeaten 103 off 161 balls (12 fours) to help Baroda reach 398/7 in reply to Chandigarh’s first innings 168.
With a lead of 230 runs, Baroda are in a position to push for an outright win and be back in contention to advance from the group. “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!” tweeted Baroda Cricket Association CEO Shishir Hattangadi.
After making his first-class debut in 2015 and then list A in 2013, Solanki is best known for helping Baroda reach the semis of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament. With his team staring at elimination in the quarter-final against Haryana, Solanki hit an unbeaten 71 off 46 balls (4x4, 5x6), clubbing 6, 4 and 6 off the last three balls to ensure victory. The last six was a helicopter shot off pacer Sumit Kumar, which took his team to an eight-wicket win.