Chennai, Feb 27 (IANS) Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Devajit Saikia expressed condolences to left-handed batter Rinku Singh and his family after the cricketer’s father, Khanchand Singh, died following a prolonged battle with liver cancer.

Rinku, who is part of India’s T20 World Cup squad, left Chennai at 5:00 am to rush to New Delhi and is now believed to be on his way to his hometown Aligarh for the last rites of Khanchand.

Saikia also confirmed that Rinku will not travel with the team to Kolkata for their next Super Eights fixture against the West Indies, to be played on Sunday.

“I would express my deepest condolences on behalf of BCCI to Rinku Singh and his whole family at this hour of crisis. He left for Delhi from Chennai at 5am to rush to the hospital in Greater Noida, where his father was undergoing treatment.

“So, he will not be travelling with the Indian team to Kolkata in the flight scheduled for this afternoon. Once we get any updated information on Rinku, we’ll let you know,” said Saikia to IANS.

Khanchand had been admitted to Yatharth Hospital in Greater Noida on February 21 after his condition deteriorated significantly. He was placed on ventilator support before passing away in the early hours of Friday.

Rinku had previously been by his father’s side when his condition worsened but rejoined the squad ahead of India’s match against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on

Thursday, though he did not feature in the playing eleven as Sanju Samson got the nod to play and open the batting alongside Abhishek Sharma.

Defending champions India face the West Indies in a virtual knockout clash on Sunday, with a semi-final berth on the line. The winner of Sunday’s match will join South Africa for the semi-finals from Group 1.

–IANS

nr/bc