Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Chetan Sakariya lost his father to COVID-19 on May 9 (Sunday). Kanjibhai – Sakariya’s father was battling for his life at a private hospital in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar. A few months ago, the cricket also lost his brother Rahul, who committed suicide.
Earlier, Sakariya had received the call last week about his father who immediately got his IPL salary transferred to help his family. The fast bowler from Saurashtra – Chetan Sakariya visited his father soon after BCCI decided to halt IPL 2021 due to the potential bio-bubble breach which resulted in cricketers attracting the deadly virus.
Chetan Sakariya’s father passes away
In an interview, the 22-year-old admitted that he transferred his entire IPL salary for his ailing father, who was battling for his life.
“I was lucky because I had received my part payment from Rajasthan Royals a few days ago. I straight away transferred money back home, and that is helping my family the most in my toughest time,” Sakariya told The Indian Express.
After returning from IPL, Chetan Sakariya spent most of his morning at the hospital, worried about his father, who was also a diabetic patient. However, he couldn’t save his father, who passed away earlier today. Rajasthan Royals took to micrblogging site Twitter to share the grief with the fans and expressed solidarity.
It pains us so much to confirm that Mr Kanjibhai Sakariya lost his battle with Covid-19 earlier today.
We're in touch with Chetan and will provide all possible support to him and his family in this difficult time.
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 9, 2021
Meanwhile, Chetan Sakariya was one of the finds of IPL 2021. He grabbed some key wickets with the new ball including that of MS Dhoni and returned with seven wickets including best figures of three for 31 before the tournament came to a halt. The youngster will hope to keep up the good form when the tournament resumes later this year.
BCCI is looking at every possibilities to host the remaining part of the tournament. A couple of countries have expressed their desire to host the competition; however, BCCI is yet to take a call on the same.
