BCCI Match Referee Prasant Mohapatra passes away due to Covid-19

Former Odisha captain and an active BCCI Match Referee Prasant Mohapatra has breathed his last today at the Bhubaneswar facility of All India Institute Of Medical Sciences. He was in critical condition for the last two weeks and had lost his father Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra to Covid-19 on May 9, 2021 while undergoing treatment for the virus.

Mohapatra, who had made his Ranji Trophy debut against Bihar in 1990, had also played for East Zone Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy apart from representing Indian U19.

In his post-cricketing career, Mohapatra made a niche for himself as one of the higher-ranked BCCI match-referees and officiated numerous first-class, List A, and T20 matches. He also officiated the England Lions’ tour of India in early 2019.

Many former cricketers including Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, and Sunil Joshi have expressed their deep condolences on the unfortunate demise of Mohapatra while Odisha cricketing fraternity is mourning the loss of Munna, as they call him.