An 18-year-old budding cricketer had a fatal cardiac arrest while practising catches on Friday morning in Hooghly’s Chandernagore.

Dipankar Das, 18, a Class XII student of Narua Siksha Niketan, was playing on the grounds of Chandernagore Santan Sangha.

Eyewitnesses said that during one of the attempts to catch the ball, Dipankar slumped unconscious. Taken to a hospital, he died on Friday evening.

“He was a cricket enthusiast and a good player,” said Animesh Bhar, the cricket coach.

Doctors said primary investigation showed the boy died of sudden cardiac arrest. Family members could not confirm heart disease.

“It was a sudden cardiac arrest while he was playing. There could have been undiagnosed heart-related problems,” said a doctor.

On December 7, a 16-yearold from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur died while playing cricket. “It is called silent cardiac arrest. Anyone can fall prey to it,” the doctor added.