Najeeb Tarakai, Afghanistan cricketer who was injured in car accident, dies; ACB mourns death

KABUL: Najeeb Tarakai, the Afghanistani opening batsman who was badly injured in a fatal car accident in Jalalabad on Friday, died on Tuesday. He was 29. He had sustained severe injuries and was in a coma after the accident.

Confirming the shocking news, the Afghanistan Cricket Board took to Twitter to announce the demise of the cricketer.

“ACB and Afghanistan Cricket Loving Nation mourns the heartbreaking and grievous loss of its aggressive opening batsman & a very fine human being Najeeb Tarakai (29) who lost his life to a tragic traffic accident leaving us all shocked,” the ACB said in a tweet.

ACB and Afghanistan Cricket Loving Nation mourns the heart breaking & grievous loss of its aggressive opening batsman & a very fine human being Najeeb Tarakai (29) who lost his life to tragic traffic accident leaving us all shocked!

May Allah Shower His Mercy on him pic.twitter.com/Ne1EWtymnO — Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) October 6, 2020

Najeeb made his international debut in 2014 against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. He also played 12 T20Is for the country, where he also scored a 90 against Ireland in Greater Noida. But after that he had failed to feature in any tournament for the team.

He has played 24 first-class matches, scoring 2030 runs at 47.20 including six centuries and 10 fifties. In 17 List A matches, he has made 553 runs at 32.52 that includes a century and three half-centuries.

Meanwhile, in another incident, Afghanistan umpire Bismillah Jan Shenwari survived a car bomb attack while seven members of his family were killed in the attack. At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack that targeted a government building in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.