Saurashtra wicketkeeper-batsman Avi Barot dies due to heart attack at 29

MUMBAI: In a shocking development, Saurashtra ‘keeper-batsman Avi Barot, who played for the India Under-19 team too, passed away at just 29 due to a massive heart attack, in Ahmedabad on Friday at around 8.30pm, while watching the IPL final.
Barot is survived by his wife Nidhi, who is currently four months pregnant, and mother Kashmira. “Incidentally, his father too had passed away due to a heart attack when he was in his 40s, a few years ago.Just a couple of days back, our physio had spoken to him about the plans for the forthcoming season,” a Saurashtra Cricket Association official said.
In a bright career so far, Barot had played 21 Ranji Trophy matches, 17 List A games and 11 T20 ties for Saurashtra. Overall, he had played 38 first-class matches (1547 runs@24.95, with one hundred and nine fifties) 38 List A games (1030 runs@28.61, with eight fifties) and 20 T20s (717 runs@37.73, one hundred and fifties) for three domestic teams-Gujarat, Saurashtra and Haryana.
Just six days back, on October 10, Barot had smashed 72 off 43 balls, with seven fours and four sixes to help Saurashtra beat Gujarat in the final of the Reliance G-1 Senior Men’s T20 Tournament.

On January 15 this year in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, Barot had smashed 122 off just 53 balls for Saurashtra against Goa at Indore, in a knock which contained 11 fours and seven sixes. On January 13, he blasted 93 off 44 balls against Vidarbha. In fact, with 283 runs in five games@56.60, including one hundred and one fifty, he finished the tournament as the fourth-highest run-getter. He was unlucky to not be picked in the IPL 2021 auction, but with two new teams coming into the fray, would’ve fancied his chances of playing in the glitzy tournament.

Opening the batting, Barot scored 54 & 21 as Saurashtra beat Bengal in the final to clinch the 2019-20 edition of the Ranji Trophy in March 2020 in Rajkot. That, unfortunately, turned out to be Barot’s last first-class game.

“I’m really shocked and stunned. He contributed handsomely for us, both as a batsman and as a ‘keeper, in the Ranji Trophy knockouts that season. He was a great team man. He was an extraordinarily disciplined cricketer. He would always report to training on time, and was a teetotaller, who never touched alcohol. We’re going to miss him,” former India seamer Karsan Ghavri, who was the coach of Saurashtra that season, told TOI on Saturday.

“Everyone at the SCA is deeply saddened about his shocking, untimely and extremely sad demise. Avi was an exceptional and remarkable cricketer. Everyone in the SCA conveys their heartfelt condolences to Barot’s family members. We pray to the almighty to grant eternal peace to his noble soul and to give enough strength to Avi’s family, friends and all dear ones to bear this unbearable loss,” the SCA said in a statement.

Former Saurashtra captain and current SCA president Jaydev Shah said: “It is absolutely shocking and painful to learn about Avi’s sad demise. He was a great teammate and had fine cricketing skills. He performed well in domestic cricket recently. He was a friendly and noble human being. All of us at SCA are in a deep state of shock after receiving this news.”

“It’s just terrible to hear this sad news. It’s just unbelievable. Avi will always stay in our heart and be missed,” former Saurashtra captain and coach Sitanshu Kotak posted on Instagram.