Ravichandran Ashwin shares his thoughts on untimely demise of Himachal cricketer Sidharth Sharma

Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has shared his thoughts on the unfortunate and the untimely demise of Himachal Pradesh cricketer Sidharth Sharma.

Ashwin took to the micro-blogging site Twitter to share his thoughts on the heartbreaking incident that has left the cricket community in India in shock and has sent shockwaves through Himachal Pradesh cricketing circles.

"This is scary. Hope every state association will have periodic health check ups for players across age groups. There is so much cricket happening and most of the cricketers find themselves on the road through the year. My thoughts are with Siddharth’s family," tweeted Ashwin after learning about the heart-wrenching incident.

Sidharth, who was part of the men’s senior Himachal Pradesh team, passed away on January 12 in a private hospital in Vadodara while being on the ventilator for the last two weeks. He succumbed to multiple-organ failure.

Prashant Chopra, a friend of Sidharth and someone who played for the India U19 side during the U19 World Cup in Australia in 2012 under the leadership of Unmukt Chand, also opened up on the passing of his friend.

“When he was in the ICU, he regained his consciousness but could not speak, so he asked the nurse to get him a piece of paper and wrote to his father:  Mujhe cricket khelne se rok na mat. Mujhe khelne dena (Please don’t stop me from playing cricket). Our manager was there, and when he told us this, we could not hold back our tears,” said Chopra while quoting Sidharth’s last statements, as quoted by Sportstar.

IPL Governing Council Chairman Arun Singh Dhumal has also offered his condolences to the late cricketer and termed the event unfortunate.