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Indian cricket player dies after on-field collision with teammate

Mourners gather around the body of cricketer Ankit Keshri, 20, who died Monday after sustaining injuries during a cricket match in Kolkata, India, on Friday.

Mourners gather around the body of cricketer Ankit Keshri, 20, who died Monday after sustaining injuries during a cricket match in Kolkata, India, on Friday.

(Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP/Getty Images)
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A 20-year-old Indian cricket player died Monday after he was knocked unconscious following a collision with a teammate during a match on Friday.

Ankit Keshri, who played for East Bengal, collided with teammate Sourabh Mondal while attempting a catch during a match against Bhowanipore in Kolkata, India. Mondal’s knee hit Keshri in the back of his neck. Keshri was knocked unconscious and blood was seen trickling from his mouth.

According to the Times of India, Keshri was not breathing after the collision. The site reported he was revived only after receiving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a former East Bengal cricketer.

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Keshri regained consciousness for a brief period and was transported to the hospital. Doctors later transferred him out of the hospital’s intensive care unit -- a move his family protested -- after MRI and CT scans revealed no brain hemorrhaging. He later went into cardiac arrest and died.

“I don’t know why he was transferred to a general bed from ICU,” Raj Keshri, Keshri’s father, told the Associated Press after his son’s death.

Ankit Keshri, the former captain of the Bengal U-19 team, was considered one of the rising stars of Indian cricket. Anurag Thakur, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, told ESPN it is looking into whether negligence played a role in Keshri’s death.

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar expressed his condolences on Twitter: “Saddened by the demise of Ankit Keshri. A promising career aborted by an unfortunate incident on field.”

Keshri is the second player to die in a cricket match in less than a year. Australian batsman Phillip Hughes died after being struck in the head by a cricket ball in November.

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