Riding without helmet cost cricketer his life

Aspiring cricketer Umesh Kharvi would have been alive had he wore a helmet while riding his two-wheeler.

“Umesh would have definitely survived with just injuries had he been wearing a helmet. We were checking for drunken driving till late on Saturday night. We had deployed staff at strategic locations including Shivanahalli junction. We withdrew the deployment around midnight and the accident took place within a few minutes. If they had come when the deployment was there, we would have caught them and it would have saved Umesh’s life,” said a police officer.

Kharvi was born on September 23, 1986, at Kundapur in Udupi district to Kogga and Yashoda Kharvi. He was the second of four children and is said to have showed interest in cricket from an early age.

A large number of Umesh’s friends and well-wishers gathered at the Victoria Hospital where a post-mortem was conducted on his body. “Umesh was a brilliant cricketer and was trained in bowling by former fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad. He was passionate about the game and wanted to watch the 200th Test match of batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar at Mumbai,” Ramani, the victim’s friend, said.

“Umesh settled down in the City as he wanted to make it big in the Indian cricket team. He was working hard in that direction. He had the potential to play in the Indian cricket team. It was his lifetime dream to play for an Indian Premier League team,” said Mahesh Udupi.

Umesh was fond of two-wheelers and would often go out for joyrides during nights, a few of his friends said and added they did not believe if he rode under the influence of alcohol.

Irfan Sait, who initially coached Kharvi at Swastic, was shocked by the news and remembered him as an intelligent cricketer.

“Umesh knew exactly how to bowl to a particular batsman. He has this rustic intelligence, and he could have got selected for Karnataka but for some injuries at that time. He took a break from cricket once he got a corporate job, and recently expressed to me his desire to come back to cricket. He was also serious about pursuing a career in coaching. But sadly, it never happened,” said Sait.