Kolkata: In a quirk of fate, Ankit Keshri was only the 12th man for East Bengal in the fateful game last Friday, and came on to the field a little earlier as team member Arnab Nandi took a break.


Ankit Keshri. Pic/PTI 

"He was not in the playing eleven. Railways all-rounder Nandi had gone out for some reason, and Kesri went in as a replacement. Only a few overs were left in the match," said a Cricket Association of Bengal official, narrating the sequence of events during the senior knockout tournament match between East Bengal and Bhowanipore culminating in Keshri's fatal head injury.