Babu Nalawade, the cricketer from Maharashtra’s Pune, who died after collapsing at the non-striker’s end during an ongoing match on Wednesday, was a cricket lover and would often play the sport. The 45-year-old had contracted COVID-19 three months back and had rejoined his job in a media house after full recovery.

On Wednesday, he collapsed on the field and was rushed to the hospital, where is was declared dead, PTI reported quoting Narayangaon police officials. 

“He was rushed to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead,” an official told PTI.

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Nalawade’s autopsy confirmed he had suffered a heart attack during a match between local cricketing unions Jambooth sangh and Ojhar sangh during the Peacock Cup cricket tournament at Jadhavwadi, ABP news reported.

Watch the incident below (Warning: Contents of the following footage may be disturbing to some) :

According to the footage of the incident available on social media, Nalawade, who was playing for Ojhar, was waiting for the bowler to bowl the next delivery when he suddenly knelt down and then fell back. Minutes before that, he also had a chat with the umpire and the batsman at the striker’s end.

He asked the umpire about the number of balls left in the over before going down on his haunches and losing consciousness. 

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Also known as Babu Nalawade, Mahesh was a resident of Pune district’s Junnar tehsil. Born in Mumbai, he would often come to his hometown of Dholwad in Junnar during his holidays. Being a cricket lover since childhood, Nalawade used to play the sport with great enthusiasm, be it in Mumbai or Dholwar. 

An assistant manager in the printing department of the Times of India, he had been working from home in Mumbai since the start of the lockdown, and contracted COVID-19 three and a half months ago, according to the ABP report. 

After successfully overcoming the disease, he returned to Dholwar and worked from home for over two months. His old cricket teammates suggested he return to cricket as he had fully recovered.

But playing in the scorching sun at noon at the onset of summer proved fatal for the 45-year-old man, as he breathed his last on the cricket field after a major heart attack.