CHENNAI: India batter Rinku Singh has to leave the team, which currently is in Chennai ahead of co-hosts' all-important T20 World Cup match against Zimbabwe, and rush to Noida to be by his ailing father's side. Sources told this daily Khanchand, the southpaw's father, has been battling liver ailment for more than a year and was admitted in a Noida hospital after his condition deteriorated.
"It was detected around a year ago following which he stopped delivering LPG cylinders on insistence from Rinku. Since then, he has been undergoing treatment under the guidance of doctors from the same Noida hospital. They were also administering him expensive injections since then," a source in the know of things told this daily. It is understood that he was suffering from liver cancer.
The 28-year-old batter hails from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. He has played all the matches at the ongoing T20 World Cup so far scoring just 24 runs in five matches. Only once he managed to cross the two-figure mark scoring an unbeaten 11 against Pakistan in India's Group A match in Colombo on February 15. "The condition of his father deteriorated following which he was put on a ventilator. Rinku was informed about it," added the source.
Suryakumar Yadav and Co will take on Zimbabwe in their second Super Eights match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday. India, who suffered a big defeat against South Africa in their first Super Eights match a few days ago, have to win the match to keep their semifinal hopes alive.