India U-19 trainer dies in sleep

ON SATURDAY, Rajesh Sawant ran 10 laps around the Wankhede Stadium. The England U-19s were playing a warm-up game against the India Colts. And Sawant, who’s the strength andconditioningcoachofthejuniorteam,was hisusualbusyself.whenhewasn’tinvolvedin a discussion with one of his support staff colleagues, he was seated near the boundaryropes sharing a laugh with the reserves.

At that time, he must have also have easily run up and down the dressing-room stairs at the Wankhede on more than a dozen occasions. His last act of the day prior to leaving the stadiumwasdecidingthemenuforhisplayers for the following day.

On Sunday morning, Sawant, 45, was found dead on his hotel-room bed. He had passed away in his sleep. A visibly shaken Rahul Dravid, the coach, called off the scheduled press conference on the eve of the first of five ODIS against England in Mumbai. He did, however, insist on keeping the information fromhisplayerstilltheyweredonewiththeir practice session on Sunday morning to avoid them from getting distressed. He, in fact, was seen requesting the ground-staff and those around them to not mention the unfortunate incident anywhere near his players. It’s learnt that Dravid relayed the tragic news to his players once the practice session was complete and the entire unit then observed twominute-silence.

The news was not relayed to the English camp either, but skipper Matthew Fisher was told about it just before he walked out to address the media. “We told him so that he isn’t left in a spot if asked about the unfortunate incident by one of the reporters,” said an official.

Earlier that morning, Dravid had asked the players to leave for Wankhede as scheduled stating that he would join them later. This after repeated phone calls to Sawant from Saturday night had gone unanswered. Accordingtoateamofficial,dravidaskedbcci logisticsmanagermanujsharmatocheckwith Sawantagain,afterthetrainerwasn’ttobeseen or heard from, even as the team prepared to leave the hotel for practice. “With his hotel room door bell going unanswered, the team staff asked the security guards to forcefully bringdownthedoor.theyfoundsawantlying in an unconscious state without him breathing,” an official said.

“Thedoorwaslatchedfrominside.wesuspect he would have latched the door out of habit before going to sleep. There was nothing suspicious found inside the room. No indicationsofasuicide.hiscauseofdeathwillbeascertained after the post mortem,” informed a senior Mumbai police officer.

Sawant’s body was later sent to JJ Hospital for a post-mortem. But the unofficial cause of his death is said to be a ‘massive heart-attack’. Whileheart-attackshavebecomescarilycommon among 40-year-olds, those who knew Sawantwellareastonished.theyspeakofhim as a teetotaller, who could still claim to have been the fittest member of the India junior unit. Sawant was a fast bowler in his playing days and a regular in the club scene for decades. He then took on the role of a fitness trainer and was mostly based out of the MCA setup in BKC. He has worked with the Afghanistannationalteamandonlytwoweeks ago was seen working with the India A team.