Young Saurashtra cricketer Avi Barot passes away at 29

Saurashtra batter Avi Barot, a former India Under-19 captain and a member of the Ranji Trophy-winning team in the 2019-20 season, passes away after suffering a cardiac arrest at a young age of 29. He has also represented Haryana and Gujarat in his career. The player died on Friday while being taken to a hospital after he felt unwell at his house. Avi is survived by his mother and wife, who is expecting the couple’s first child.

“Avi was at home when he felt unwell. He was being rushed to the hospital and breathed his last inside the ambulance. He was a very lively boy and seeing his talent, I brought him to Saurashtra from Haryana where he started his first-class career,” Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) President Jaydev Shah told PTI.

“Avi”s father passed away at 42. He is now survived by his mother and wife who is four months pregnant. It will take a lot of time for me to accept this tragedy,” Shah said.

He was last seen in action in a local tournament. “I am still in a state of shock. He was just 29 and last week we had a state-level tournament Jeevan Trophy where he came and played. I in fact told him you are scoring runs, you can take it easy but he said ”Jaydev bhai we need to win it”,” Shah recalled.

Barot played 38 first-class matches, 38 List A matches and 20 Domestic T20 games. The wicket-keeper batsman scored 1,547 runs in first-class matches, 1030 runs in list-A games and 717 runs in T20s.

He scored a fifty in Saurashtra’s Ranji Trophy win against Bengal. The Saurashtra Cricket Association issued a statement to pay tribute to Barot.

“Everyone at Saurashtra Cricket Association (is) deeply shocked and saddened on (the) very shocking, untimely and extremely sad demise of Avi Barot, remarkable and notable cricketer of Saurashtra,” the SCA stated in a media release issued here.