Former India Under-15 cricketer dies in road accident as Rajesh Banik played for Tripura at all age-group levels.
Former India Under-15 cricketer Rajesh Banik dies in road accident.
A Tripura Cricket Association (TCA) official said on Saturday that Rajesh Banik, a former Tripura first-class cricket player and state captain, had perished in a traffic accident in Anandanagar, western Tripura. His mother, father, and sibling outlive him at the age of forty, according to PTI.
One of the top cricket players in the state at the time, Banik made his Ranji Trophy debut for Tripura in the 2001–02 season. He later worked as a selector for the state’s Under-16 squad.
Banik, a right-hand hitter and sporadic legspinner, was born on December 12, 1984. Between the 2001–02 and 2017–18 seasons, he played in 42 first-class matches for Tripura, scoring 1469 runs at an average of 19.32. He also scored 203 runs in 18 Twenty20 matches and 378 runs in 24 List A matches.
Banik, a contemporary of Irfan Pathan and Ambati Rayudu, played alongside them on the India Under-15 team in the Asian Cricket Council Under-15 tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 2000. That same year, Banik also travelled to England with the India Under-15s, which included Pathan and Rayudu.
“This is very unfortunate that we have lost a talented cricketer and selector of the Under-16 cricket team,” secretary Subrata Dey was reported as saying by PTI. “We are shocked. May his soul rest in peace.”
Anirban Deb, secretary of the Tripura Sports Journalists’ Club, said Banik’s contribution went beyond his playing career. “Not many knew about his ability to identify young talent. That’s why he was made one of the selectors of the Under-16 state team,” Deb said.