When a cricketer takes up playing cricket as a profession, he puts a whole load of things on the line. A player could risk missing his exams or on most occasion would have to stay away from their sweet families. At times players end up losing their loved ones when away from their families while they fulfil their commitments with the sporting teams.
Obviously, the loss of a loved one can always be challenging to cope up from but in recent times we’ve seen and watched multiple cricketers turn up for their sides to aid their teams despite coping a loss in their family. From the likes of Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli to Mandeep Singh, all at some or the other point have actually turned up for their sides after coping a loss in their family.
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Today we take a look at 5 such cricketers who turned up to play for their sides despite coping a loss in their family:
1. Nitish Rana
The Delhi born batsman lost his father in law whilst being in the bio-secure bubble in the UAE during IPL 2020. This happened a day before Kolkata Knight Riders were to take on the Delhi Capitals at the Shiekh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
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Since Rana was in a bio-secure bubble, he decided against travelling back to India and instead turned up for the franchise the very next day against Delhi Capitals. In that particular match, the southpaw opened the batting for the very time in the season and ended up scoring a fighting match-winning 81 runs knock off 53 deliveries helping Kolkata secure the much-needed win.
When Rana completed his half-century, he rolled out a Kolkata Knight Riders jersey from his pocket which had the name of the father in law ‘Surinder Marwah’
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2. Mandeep Singh
During the 2020 IPL, Mandeep Singh also lost his father Hardev Singh, who was suffering from liver infection and was on ventilator support at a Mohali hospital where he breathed his last. As Mandeep Singh was in a bio-bubble in the UAE, he decided against travelling back home and instead attended the last rites through video conferencing.
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On the very same evening, Mandeep Singh was seen turning up for the Kings XI Punjab franchise where he opened the batting alongside KL Rahul as Mayank Agarwal was nursing an injury. Though he couldn’t do much for the side in that particular match, Mandeep played a crucial 66 run knock against KKR at Sharjah in the following game which helped his side secure a much-needed win at that point of time.
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3. Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar’s career as a whole has been a series of achievements and accomplishments but even though the Master acclaimed so much at so little time, he too had found himself in a difficult situation when he lost his father during the 1999 World Cup. Sachin’s father Ramesh Tendulkar had a key role in making the player his son had become, right from motivating him to take up the sport to keep him with his uncle and aunt so that Sachin receives the best cricketing practice.
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After he heard the news Sachin flew back home from England, completed the last rites and flew back to England as his mother insisted him to go back and represent the nation. Upon returning, Sachin notched up a brilliant ton against Kenya helping his side secure a very important win.
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4. Virat Kohli
We often talk about Virat Kohli’s prowess on the field in today’s world but in between all the achievements let’s also recall the personal loss he had borne at the age of 17. When Virat Kohli was just 18 years old, he lost his father while Virat was turning up for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match.
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The news completely left Virat devastated as he had to make a decision to either leave the match completely or stay with the side. On that very same night, Virat called up his childhood coach and asked for his advice on what should he do at this point of time, during which his coach advised him to complete the funeral formalities and turn up for the side the next morning as many don’t get the opportunity to represent the stateside at such young age.
As many wouldn’t have thought, Virat actually turned up for the game the next day and scored a heroic knock of 90 runs to help his side avoid the follow on. And the rest is history as we all know.
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5. Rashid Khan
The Afghan-born Rashid Khan is currently one of the best spinners going around in world cricket at the moment. But even a player like Rashid, who is just 22 years old had to bear the tragic loss of his father in 2019 while he was plying his trade for the Adelaide Strikers franchise in the Big Bash League.
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Rashid being just 21 years old at that time decided to stay on and continue playing in the league in Australia. A while after bearing the tragic loss Rashid spoke about his father wherein he said it was a tough situation when he lost his dad since he was someone who supported his family and raised him.
“It was tough. I lost my Dad, the one who is very close to us and to my family. He really supported us – he struggled a lot while giving up (a lot) with how he (raised) us. He was always watching my games, he didn’t understand cricket a lot, but he just was always asking my family how I had done,” Rashid Khan said in an interview after his father’s demise.
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