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Monday, April 20, 2015

21 year old Bengal player Ankit Keshri dies in on-field collision

The glorious game of Cricket turns nasty and spills blood on the arena sometimes – sometimes due to intimidating bowling as practised in ‘ bodyline ‘ to West Indies pacers and Aussies.  There have been accidents on field too, the most recent being that of Phil Hughes death.  Now comes the sad  and shocking news of a 21 year old Bengal Cricketer Ankit Keshri, losing his life !!!

The  21-year old  Ankit, a former Bengal Under-19 cricket captain, sustained a head injury in an on-field collision during  Cricket Association of Bengal's Division 1 knockout match between East Bengal and Bhowanipore at the Jadavpur University Campus ground in Kolkata.  Keshri, a right-handed batsman and leg-spinner, came on as a substitute fielder for his club and collided with his fellow teammate Sourav Mondol as both players went for a high catch. It was reported that Mondol’s knee hit Keshri’s back side of neck.  After the injury, Keshri lost his consciousness. Shivsagar Singh, a senior member of the East Bengal and Bengal team gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation or Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) immediately. Later he was taken to nearby AMRI hospital. From there he was shifted to Nightingale hospital, where his condition was stable till Sunday evening. But today  morning a cardiac arrest resulted in his unfortunate death. 

Cricinfo reports that in the penultimate over (44th) of the Bhowanipore innings, Mondal, who was bowling, rushed to take a catch that was hit towards cover. Keshri was fielding at deep cover and charged in too. Neither of the two noticed the other and collided. According to Shibsagar Singh, who was fielding at point, Mondal's knee crashed into Keshri's head and neck region. As Mondal went down, wincing in pain, Keshri was lying flat and not breathing.  Pranab Nandy, the East Bengal coach, said there was no negligence as the ground doctor was immediately on the case and Keshri was transported on a CAB ambulance to the nearby Nightingale Hospital within 15 minutes.
CAB treasurer Biswarup Dey said that doctors informed him on Sunday that although Keshri's condition was stable, he had fever. They were supposed to refer Keshri to consult specialist doctors on Monday but around midnight on Sunday he had a "massive" cardiac arrest. Keshri was put on the ventilator but succumbed early Monday morning.

Only recently, in an IPL match - Dwayne Bravo and Mohit Sharma collided while fielding off the final ball of Mumbai Indians' innings at Wankhede Stadium – and the unsavoury act of an ex-International Captain is not worth mentioning here.

Thommo, the slinging fastest was also involved in a crash.  Jeffrey Robert Thomson considered by many as the  fastest bowler of all time  was the opening partner of Dennis Lillee; their combination was one of the most fearsome in Test cricket history. In 1975, during a match against the West Indies, he was timed using high-speed cameras with a speed of 160.45 km/h; one year on in 1976, he was timed at 160.58 km/h again, using conventional radar.  In 1976 at Adelaide, he collided with Alan Turner in attempting a catch against Pakistan resulting in dislocation of a collarbone.

In 1992, Dhruv Pandove, all of 18 years,  a left-hander considered  prodigy from Punjab  died in a road accident.   Ranjit Khanwilkar  at 28 was among the hundreds killed in that Bangalore - Kanyakumari Island Express derailment.  Raman Lamba playing club cricket at Dhaka  was hit on the forehead by a full blooded pull by Mehrab Hossain off left arm spinner Saifullah Khan while fielding at forward short leg, without a helmet.   He suffered an internal hemorrhage and slipped into coma, eventually died after 3 days. 

Sad and shocking to read of the untimely demise of young Ankit Keshri


20th April 2015.

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