KOLKATA/CHENNAI: On Thursday, thousands flocked to the MA Chidambaram Stadium to see if the Indian team would win a must-win match. They were joined in spirit by millions, who were tuning in or streaming. Unknown to them, Rinku Singh, one of the 15 men tasked with winning the T20 World Cup, was battling something extremely personal.
The thought of not seeing his father alive for one final time. He had already said his goodbyes a few days earlier. On the bench, Rinku knew Friday was round the corner. But he didn't know it on Thursday. He would have longed for a medical miracle. Another quiet moment between a son and a father. To share another laugh. To listen to that one piece of music again. To reminisce.
Late on Thursday, Rinku's father, who had been suffering from liver cancer, passed away. He left from Chennai for Aligarh for the final rites before rejoining his team in Kolkata on Friday. Sonu, one of Rinku's siblings, confirmed to this daily that his brother has left Aligarh to join the team. "He came here for the father's last rites. He has left to join the team in Kolkata."
It once again shines a light on how cricketers process personal tragedies on tour. How their grief can often be played out in the public eye. The importance of family cannot be overstated. It's generally everything and the only thing, especially when compared to a sport. The first thing Mohammed Siraj did after coming back from Australia in early 2021 was go to his father's final resting place. In a world filled with Covid rules and compulsory quarantine, the pacer opted to stay back and complete his maiden Test series in Australia. But he carried that burden throughout that series, grieving quietly in hotel rooms across Australia. After he came back, he dedicated all those wickets he picked to his father, the one who had fuelled his cricketing dreams. “It was the most difficult time for me to be there at his burial place,” the pacer had remarked. “I was just circling unknowingly, never thought would have go through such a phase. Mentally I was upset and depressed. I had a chat with them back home and they said that I should complete dad’s dream (of playing for India).”
During the 1999 World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar missed the India - Zimbabwe game because of the death of his father in India. Sachin, who was very close to his father, was urged to rejoin the team by his family.
Athletes are said to be different because they generally have to pay through pain — the pain of a broken bone, a failing ankle, a dodgy knee or a fractured finger. But that can often be incomparable to the mental anguish of losing a loved one. In 2024, Harry Brook, who already had the cricketing world at his feat, took a complete break from a tour of India and the subsequent Indian Premier League to, first, be with his ailing grandmother, and, later, process the grief of losing one of the persons most important to his upbringing. In an interview to The Times, he had said the opportunity to spend more time with his grandmother was worth turning down England.
In 2023, Pat Cummins did something similar. The Australian captain missed two of the four Tests to be with ailing mother. " I feel I am best being here with my family," he had said at the time. A week or so after he left, his mother had passed away.
The thing with grief is it keeps hitting you, wave after wave. Morning. Evening. Night. Over the next week or so, Rinku needs all the support he can get.