Himachal Pradesh pacer Sidharth Sharma passes away at 28

Sharma passed on Thursday in Vadodara, where he was hospitalised for nearly two weeks due to breathing issues.

His final rites were performed in Nangal, Punjab on Friday.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed grief over his death on Twitter.

"The news of the demise of Himachal's Vijay Hazare Trophy-winning team member and star bowler Sidharth Sharma is extremely sad. I pray to God to give peace to the departed soul and May the loved ones be given the strength to bear this great loss," tweeted Sukhu.

As per ESPNCricinfo, the bowler was a resident of a Himachal town Una and had travelled to Gujarat to play a Ranji Trophy match against Baroda from January 3 to January 6.

During the practice session on December 31, he complained of breathing trouble, following which he was hospitalised later that day.

Himachal spinner Mayank Dagar said that the bowler had been on ventilator support.

"From January 3 to 6, we played against Baroda, but all of us focused on Siddharth's health even during the match," Dagar said.

"We visited him regularly in hospital, but we had to leave him alone in Baroda and leave for the next match [against Odisha in Nadaun from January 10 to 13]. His breathing problem continued to worsen, after which he was put on a ventilator. We are all deeply saddened by his death. Sidharth was an important part of our team, and connected well with everyone," added Dagar.

Sidharth made his senior team debut in Ranji Trophy back in November 2017 against Bengal. He had played six first-class cricket matches, six List-A games and one T20 match.

He was part of Himachal's Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22 winning team and played three matches for them, including the final against Tamil Nadu, in which he took 1/34 in ten overs. (ANI)