Saurashtra wicket-keeper batter Avi Barot died in Ahmedabad on Friday after a cardiac arrest. He was 29 and is survived by mother and wife who is expecting their first child later this year.

A team player, Barot will be remembered as the most versatile of cricketers who could easily switch gears. In a video posted on the BCCI website on January 15, 2021, Barot is shown hitting sixes off the Goa attack to all corners of the Indore Stadium on way to a 53-ball 122. The Saurashtra opening batter’s last first-class game is listed as the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal in March 2020, in which he scored a patient 142 ball-54 in the first innings and a 102-ball 39 in the second.

What has shocked the cricket community is that just six days ago, Barot starred for Saurashtra in the final of a local tournament, the Reliance G-1 men’s T20 Cup, scoring 72 off 43 balls, at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium.

The player, who has also represented Haryana and Gujarat, died while being taken to a hospital after he felt unwell at home in Ahmedabad.

According to Jaydev Shah, the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) president, Barot’s father had also passed away in his early 40s.

“He was always full of energy; he had the loudest voice on the ground, whether on or off the field. Always cheering up everybody to do well,” said Sheldon Jackson, who was with the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday when he got the news. “I was travelling from the ground yesterday evening when a teammate called to inform. Right from celebration mode (of being part of the IPL final) I went into mourning. I was shocked.”

Barot played 38 first-class matches, as many List A games, and 20 T20s for Saurashtra, Gujarat and Haryana. He aggregated 1547 runs at an average of 48.49 in first-class cricket, 1030 runs at 28.61 in List A cricket and 717 runs at 37.73 in T20s.

“He was a very good team man, always supporting whether he used to get to play or not used to get to play. In the last few years, he was really blooming as a cricketer in every format,” said Jackson.

Barot scored 309 runs at an average of 34.33, with three half-centuries, when Saurashtra won the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 2019-20.

His death had Karsan Ghavri was lost for words: “Nobody can believe that a guy like him will go away at the age of 29; it’s terrible, too strange. He was a great utility player. He was part of the winning (Ranji Trophy) team when I was the Saurashtra coach. His contribution was quite sizeable, in both departments, scored runs and kept wickets well.

“A specialist T20 player, he was a powerful hitter, but in the four-day games he played differently, had a fairly good temperament and could occupy the crease. He scored very vital runs in the final,” said Ghavri.

Barot was also part of the Saurashtra team that reached the final of the Ranji Trophy in 2015-16 and in 2018-19. He was also the BCCI’s Under-19 cricketer of the year in 2011.

Shah who had brought Barot to Saurashtra from Haryana, spoke about Barot’s last innings, in Rajkot and said: “I told him to keep up the form. He was a very jolly person, would make people laugh but was also a very dedicated cricketer. We will miss him.”