Kolkata cricketer dies after collapsing during practice

Aniket’s club Paikpara Sporting was scheduled to take on Milan Samity in a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) First Division League match.

Representative image.

Aniket Sharma, a young cricketer playing with a first division club Paikpara Sporting, collapsed while warming up during practice on a cricket field on Tuesday and died before reaching a hospital.

The 21-year-old cricketer was going through the drills before starting the day’s practice ahead of his team's Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) first division league match against Milan Samity on Wednesday. According to Paikpara Sporting Club coach Swapan Ghosh, the player fainted as the team was warming up before starting the day’s practice. Aniket’s team-mates took him to a nearby hospital where the doctors declared him dead. According to club sources, the young all-rounder had possibly suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and died on the way to the hospital. The left-handed batsman who also bowled off-spinners, hailed from Kharagpur (an industrial town in Paschim Medinipur district located some 140 kms from Kolkata) and travelled regularly to the city to play cricket. Aniket had scored 126 runs and had bagged five wickets in the three matches he had played for his team this season.

A pall of gloom descended on the sporting circles of the city as the news of Aniket’s death spread. The secretary of Cricket Association of Bengal Abhishek Dalmiya expressed deep shock and said that it is “extremely painful hear about the untimely death of a promising player.” Last year in June another 21-year-old aspiring cricketer, Debabrata Pa, died after he was struck by lightning during practice at the Calcutta Cricket Academy.