Ex-Vidarbha cricketer Lonkar dies of Covid

Former Vidarbha cricketer Kunal Lonkar who was affected by Covid-19 passed away due to Vovid-19 on Wednesday.

According to information, 33-year-old Lonkat who led Vidarbha under-15 team was not feeling well since last week and had tested Corona positive on March 30. Kunal, a resident of Dabha, is survived by his wife and five-year-old son.

While talking to Lokmat Times his coach Samir Deshpande said, " Kunal had represented Vidarbha in the Under-15 and Under-17 age group teams in the BCCI tournaments. He was a good right-handed middle-order batsman and part-time off-spinner. He had scored heavily in the local cricket and BCCI’s domestic tournaments for a couple of seasons".

Kunal led Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Under-15 side in the 2003-04 season in the Polly Umrigar Trophy. After scoring a half-century against the visiting Madhya Pradesh team at the old VCA ground at Civil Lines, Kunal hammered 149 runs against Rajasthan at Bhilwara to impress the national junior selectors He was called to attend the two-day Indian team selection trials at Bangalore for the U-15 Asia Cup scheduled to be held at Sharjah. During the selection trials also he did quite well but unfortunately he missed the national berth by a whisker.

He later went on to represent Vidarbha in the U-17 category too. However, he could not live up to his immense talent as he lost focus after the death of his father.A former student of St Xavier’s High School, Hingna and Dhanwate National College, Kunal used to play local cricket tournaments with Ramdaspeth Youth Sporting Club (RYSC) and Central India Sports Foundation (CISF) teams