Former Mumbai pacer Rajesh Verma passes away at 40

Rajesh Verma, the former Mumbai pacer and a member of the Ranji Trophy-winning squad during the 2006-07 season, passed away on April 24 (Sunday) after suffering a heart attack. The same was confirmed by his former domestic teammate Bhavin Thakkar.

Verma, a right-arm medium pacer, played a total of seven first-class matches. However, he was a key member of the domestic heavyweight Mumbai’s successful Ranji Trophy campaign during the 2006-07 edition. He made his first-class debut during the 2002-03 season.

Verma managed to scalp 23 wickets in his first-class career

After making his debut in the 2002-03 season, the right-arm pacer played his last game against Punjab at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai in 2008. Talking about his numbers, he scalped a total of 23 wickets in his seven games and also bagged a five-wicket haul, with his best bowling figures of 5 for 97. Verma also represented his team in 11 List A matches from which he scalped a total of 20 wickets.

Meanwhile, Verma’s friend Thakkar recalled his cricketing journey with his friend and said that he would have done well in the Indian Premier League (IPL) had he played in the current era. Thakkar also said that the late pacer used to bowl yorkers at will.

“I’m completely shocked. We did our cricketing journey together since our Under-19 days. We would travel to the grounds together from Wadala. 20 days back, he was on a tour with me for a tournament. I spoke to him for 30 minutes yesterday evening, and today at 4 am, I received a call that he was gone! He was a sweet person, a very close friend of mine,” Thakkar said in a conversation with Times of India.

“He came from a very humble background. He was a very talented pacer. In today’s time, he would’ve done well in the IPL. He should have achieved much more than he did. He used to bowl yorkers at will. His yorker was unplayable,” Thakkar added.