India ace pacer Mohammed Siraj was seen uplifting Rinku Singh by placing his arms around his shoulders following the T20 World Cup 2026 match against Zimbabwe in Chennai on Thursday, February 26. The caring gesture came from Siraj amid tough times for Rinku, whose father, Khachandra Singh, was on a ventilator support in Noida due to stage four liver cancer. Later, on Friday morning, his father passed away.

Watch Siraj’s gesture for Rinku:

For the unversed, Rinku Singh recently flew from Ahmedabad following India’s Super 8 game against South Africa to visit his ailing father. After spending some time, he moved to Chennai for India’s next game against Zimbabwe.

Like Rinku Singh, Mohammed Siraj had faced such a personal loss during India’s tour of Australia in 2020. The speedster couldn’t attend the last rites as he was under quarantine, managing his loss by talking to family, friends, and team members, including then head coach Ravi Shastri. The Hyderabad-born pacer dedicated his fifer to his father during the Test series.

While Rinku didn’t get to play against Zimbabwe, he will look to come back strongly on the professional front by contributing to the team once he returns to action in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. The southpaw returned with scores of 11* and 6* against Pakistan and the Netherlands but flopped against the USA, Namibia, and South Africa, returning with scores of 6, 1, and 0, respectively.

Sanju Samson contributes after replacing Rinku Singh in the IND vs ZIM T20 World Cup 2026 match

Sanju Samson made the most of his opportunities after replacing Rinku Singh in the T20 World Cup 2026 match against Zimbabwe. The wicketkeeper-batter smashed 24 runs off 15 balls, hitting two sixes and one four, to give the Men in Blue a flying start. As a result, he shared a 48-run stand for the opening wicket, the highest in this edition of the T20 World Cup.

Defending 257, India won the match by 72 runs to fight back in the tournament after losing to South Africa. They will now play their final Super 8 match against the West Indies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday, March 1. A win would help them reach the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal.

Click here to check out the full IND vs ZIM T20 World Cup 2026 scorecard.