Hyderabad: Tragedy struck Hyderabad cricket when a player of the Marredpally Sporting club collapsed and died after scoring a half-century against his team’s bitter rivals Marredpally Blues in an A-3 Division one-day league match at the Marredpally Playground on Sunday afternoon.
Virendra Naik was 41 and left behind his homemaker wife, eight-year-old son and a daughter aged five. The family resides in Gudimalkapur in Mehdipatnam.
Viren’s last rites will be performed at his native place Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra after the West Marredpally police hand over the body after postmortem at the Gandhi Hospital on Monday.
For now, cardiac arrest is thought to be the cause of death. Viren’s brother Avinash stated to the police that “he was under medication for chest diseases” and that “there is no foul play involved.”
Viren was going strong on the field after Sporting batted first.
Marredpally Sporting batsman Virendra Naik was in his elements minutes before breathing his last on Sunday.
He made 66 before being adjudged caught behind the wicket, a decision he thought was flawed, according to his captain Tript Singh. Later, he collapsed in the pavilion, hitting his head against a wall while going down.
While the cricketers moved him into the car, of former Blues player Venkatesh, a doctor passing by stopped, administered Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, found the pulse to be very low and asked the boys to rush him to a hospital. Viren was declared ‘brought dead’ at the Yashoda Hospital in Secunderabad.
Tript offered to concede the match but rival captain Yesudas Joseph and the umpire said they would deem the game as abandoned. Sporting were 176 for 5 in 30 overs then.
“It’s sad to lose Viren. He has been playing for our club for seven years and always came across as a very decent and well-behaved family man who kept away from post-match parties. He worked as a team leader at HSBC and was a true sport,” Sporting secretary S. Venkateshwaran told this newspaper.
Tript was broken. “Viren was very energetic and a livewire on the field who played like a 20-year-old.
Highly enthusiastic and passionate about the game, he always carried himself with a nice smile. He played with fire but in good spirit and never crossed the line of decency. He would not wait for the umpire’s decision if he was out… he would walk. I’m still in shock. He will be dearly missed. I believe he is in a good place now and his family will do better — he would bring his son to the matches often. He was four years older but had always respected me,” he said.
“Viren usually opens the innings for us but today he batted at No.3 and was determined to do well against our arch rivals. After being given out, he told me he was set for a century and was totally involved in the game. ‘Let’s get some more runs and put them under pressure,’ he said. Senior player Naveen Makhija walked in next and then I went in to bat. After a while there was pandemonium in the pavilion and we all rushed back. I’m sorry we couldn’t save our teammate,” the captain said.
