BCCI in shock after Rajesh Sawant’s untimely demise

The India U19 cricket team received a huge shock today when the team’s fitness trainer Rajesh Sawant was found dead in his hotel room in Mumbai. India U19 team is in the city preparing to take on England U19 in a 5-match ODI series that will be played in the two international stadiums. Hours after the news broke out the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has stated that they are still in a state of shock.

Rajesh was with the team and when he didn’t report as per schedule the management sent someone to look for him, when they arrived at his room, he was lying unconscious there. He was taken to the Bombay Hospital where he was declared dead at arrival by the doctors.

“It’s a very unfortunate development. We are still in shock. Today when the boys left for practice, after reaching the stadium, it was found that Rajesh was not with the team. It was discovered that he had passed away in his hotel room,” BCCI CEO Rahul Johri was quoted by PTI on Indian Express.

The 40-year-old had served various positions in the BCCI as the trainer of the age-group teams at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and with the Afghanistan national team as well.

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“What I have gathered so far is he did not report for team activities in the morning, so people started looking for him and eventually he was found to have been passed away in his room,” Amitabh Choudhary, BCCI joint secretary, was quoted by Sportstar. “I have asked Prof. Shetty (Ratnakar Shetty, general manager – game development) to visit the site and keep me updated.”

After preliminary investigation cardiac arrest is reported to be the reason for his death. But Manojkumar Sharma Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai Police said the exact reason of his death will be ascertained only after post-mortem.