Young Saurashtra cricket player Avi Barot dies after suffering cardiac arrest

Saurashtra batter Avi Barot, a former India Under-19 captain and a member of the Ranji Trophy winning team in the 2019-20 season, has died after suffering a cardiac arrest at a shockingly young age of 29, the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) said.

The player, who also represented Haryana and Gujarat in his career, died on October 15.

“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.

“He left for heavenly abode in the evening of 15th October 2021 due to severe cardiac arrest,” the SCA stated in a media release issued here.

He was a right-handed batter, who could also bowl off-breaks.

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

Barot was a part of the Ranji Trophy winning Saurashtra team, which had defeated Bengal in the summit clash.

For Saurashtra, he played 21 Ranji Trophy matches, 17 List A matches and 11 domestic T20 games.

Barot was India U-19 captain in 2011 and earlier this year, he grabbed attention with his stupendous 122-run knock in just 53 balls during a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Goa.

SCA President Jaydev Shah condoled Barot’s demise.

“This is absolutely shocking and painful to learn about Avi’s sad demise. He was a great teammate and had great cricketing skills. In all recent domestic matches, he had performed remarkably well.

“He was a very friendly and noble human being. We all at Saurashtra Cricket Association are in deep shock,” said Shah, himself a former Saurashtra captain.