Late Najeeb Tarakai’s family not blaming car driver for cricketer’s demise

On Tuesday, October 6, Afghanistan cricketer Najeeb Tarakai lost his life after meeting with a fatal car accident. He breathed his last on Tuesday morning at 4:00 am after remaining in coma for a few days. On Friday, October 1, he met with the accident in the Jalalabad city.

However, his family doesn’t want to put the blame on the car driver and said that it can’t compensate for the massive loss. The same was revealed by Najeeb’s brother Aimal Tarakai.

“It was unfortunate and what’s the use of blaming the car driver? Whatever was in his destiny has happened and my brother will not return even if the driver is punished,” his brother said over the telephone, reported by BDcrictime.

He was in a deep coma for three days, says Najeeb Tarakai’s brother

“Most cars in our country drive on the left side of the road. This accident happened with a right-hand drive car when my brother, who was returning from a nearby shop did not see the car (which was intercepted by a rickshaw as seen in the CCTV video footage obtained by this reporter) running from the opposite side,” he stated.

Mangal underwent a surgery, which was performed by Dr Jan Mohammad and Bimal Mangal. As per Mangal, after the accident, Najeeb’s heartbeat fluctuated and chances of his survival became minimum.

“He was in a deep coma for three days. Chances of his survival were only 5 % when he was brought to the hospital. He was kept on a mechanical ventilator and once his BP and heart beats became abnormal, the chance of his survival was only 1%,” Mangal said, speaking over the telephone.

When Najeeb was going through the tough times, the members of the Afghanistan national team were also in touch with his family. Rashid Khan, who’s currently in the UAE, playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), stayed in touch as well.

Najeeb made his debut against Bangladesh in the 2014 T20 World Cup and went on to play 12 T20Is and one ODI. He last donned the national jersey in 2019 during a tri-nation T20I series in Bangladesh. He last played competitive cricket in September in the Shpageeza Cricket League.