According to eye witnesses, Iftikhar, in his early 30s, was hit while attempting to hook Ahmad Ali Jafri. The batsmen fell on the track and was later taken to Taluka hospital before being shifted to Civil Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Iftikhar was representing Nazimabad Gymkhana as a guest player in the fifth all-Sindh Malik Sikandar memorial cricket tournament fixture against local club Ghauri Sports.

As the tragic news reached the ground in the 13th over, the match was postponed and the tournament organizers suspended the event for two days to mourn the death of Iftikhar, who scored 20 runs.

The eye witnesses alleged that the cricketer died due to negligence.

They claimed that the player was not attended by the medicos at duty at the Kotri hospital for quite sometime before he was rushed to Civil Hospital.

Umpire Mohammad Akbar told Dawn that the ball was declared no-ball by him as it was above the shoulder height. With Akbar was international umpire Taufiq Khan who was standing at square-leg.

Earlier this year, India's former Test cricketer Raman Lamba died in Dhaka after being hit in the head while fielding at silly-point.