Rajasthan Royals latest recruit, pacer Chetan Sakariya’s father Kanjibhai passed away due to COVID-19 at a hospital in Gujarat's Bhavnagar on Sunday, 9 May. Sakariya had rushed to see his father after being released from his franchise yesterday.
There has been a sudden rise in the COVID-19 in the country which also led to the IPL 2021 getting postponed with immediate effect for an indefinite period after players had tested positive among the franchise teams.
In a conversation with The Indian Express earlier, Chetan had told that the payment that he has received for playing in the IPL has helped his family in these tough times.
“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 said.
He further went on to say that having IPL at this hour and the money that he has earned from the tournament has come as a helping hand. “People are saying stop IPL. I want to tell them something, I am the only bread earner in my family. Cricket is the only source of my earnings. I can give better treatment to my father because of the money I earned from IPL. Had this tournament not happened for a month, it would have been tougher for me. I come from a poor family, my father all his life drove tempo and because of IPL my whole life was about to change,” he said.
The left-arm bowler was bought for a sum of Rs 1.20 Cr during the mini auctions held in Chennai in February by Rajasthan Royals and scalped seven wickets in as many matches he played for the franchise.