Former Bengal U-19 cricketer Ankit Keshri passes away after freak incident

A file photo of Ankit Keshri (Photo credits – IBN)

Former West Bengal U-19 cricketer Ankit Keshri died of a cardiac arrest on Monday morning after he had collided with teammate Sourabh Mondal at the Jadavpur University Campus ground on Friday. He had become unconscious after the incident and had to be taken to a hospital as a sense of emergency emerged on the cricket field.

Keshri, who was aged 20, was representing East Bengal who were up against Bhawanipore in a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) Division 1 knockout match. He actually wasn’t part of the playing XI for his team and had come in as a replacement for Arnab Mandi on the field.

In what was a 45 overs a side game, the 44th over was bowled by Mondal and this was when the nasty collision occurred. Mondal and Keshri went for a catch which fell in the cover region with the latter charging in from deep cover while the former continued straight from his bowling follow-through.

The two did not realise that the other was going for the catch and crashed into each other. According to one of East Bengal’s fielders who witnessed the incident, Mondal’s knee hit into the head and neck region of Keshri who fell flat and was bleeding from his mouth.

Keshri wasn’t breathing which sent everyone present at the ground in a frenzy and an ambulance immediately took him to a nearby hospital. Doctors, on Sunday, had informed Biswarup Dey, who is the CAB treasurer, that Keshri’s condition was stable. Deb was also let known that the cricketer was suffering from fever.

Keshri, then suffered a cardiac arrest around midnight which saw the doctors transfer him to a ventilator. Unfortunately, he passed away on Monday morning.

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— Manoj Tiwary (@tiwarymanoj) April 20, 2015