The 38-year-old collapsed while playing cricket in Dubai, leaving teammates in shock as friends desperately tried to save him.
Friends say the 38-year-old showed no warning signs before collapsing on the field
What began as a routine Sunday morning cricket match ended in tragedy for a close-knit Indian expatriate community in Dubai after 38-year-old businessman Safwan Shanu suffered a fatal heart attack while playing with friends.
Safwan, who had lived in the UAE for around 15 years, collapsed during a cricket game in Al Garhoud on Sunday morning, leaving teammates and family members struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss.
According to friends who were present, there were no visible signs that anything was wrong.
“He was completely normal,” recalled Nabil Karikal, a close friend who was playing alongside him. “He had scored 46 runs, hit six sixes, and was joking with the bowler. Nobody imagined something like this could happen.”
A Normal Morning Turns Tragic
The group had gathered before dawn, as they did almost every weekend, for their regular cricket session at an open ground in Al Garhoud.
According to Nabil, Safwan was enjoying his innings and appeared to be in good spirits throughout the match. Moments before the incident, he had hit another six and taken a single to reach the non-striker’s end.
“He sat down briefly and asked for water. Within seconds, he collapsed,” Nabil said.
Friends immediately rushed to help him and began performing CPR while emergency services were contacted. An ambulance arrived within minutes, and Safwan was transported to a nearby hospital.
Despite efforts to save him, he was later pronounced dead.
The cause of death was confirmed as a heart attack.
Cricket Was More Than a Game
For Safwan and many members of Dubai’s Bhatkal community, weekend cricket was more than recreation.
The group, consisting largely of expatriates from Bhatkal in Karnataka, had been gathering every Sunday morning for nearly nine years. The sessions offered a chance to unwind, reconnect with friends, and maintain ties to a shared culture thousands of kilometers from home.
“For people from Bhatkal, cricket is part of our identity,” Nabil said. “We play not only for fitness but because it brings us together. These matches were our biggest stress reliever.”
Safwan was a regular presence on the field. Friends say he rarely missed a game despite the demands of running his own food trading business.
Those who knew him describe him as energetic, friendly, and deeply passionate about cricket.
Family Confronts Another Heartbreaking Loss
The tragedy has been particularly devastating for Safwan’s family.
His parents, who were in India when they received the news, travelled to Dubai the same day after community members helped arrange emergency travel and visa formalities.
For the family, the loss carries an especially painful history.
Safwan’s elder brother, Mohammed Fairoz Shanu, revealed that another sibling, Ghazwan Shanu, died suddenly from a heart attack at the age of 16, nearly 14 years ago.
“He complained that he couldn’t breathe, and within a short time we lost him,” Fairoz recalled. “Now we have lost another brother in the same way.”
The family is struggling to process the fact that two sons have died unexpectedly from heart-related conditions at a young age.
“My mother has lost two of her children,” Fairoz said. “It is impossible to describe what she is going through.”
Remembered as a Devoted Father
Safwan is survived by his wife, three sons, and a four-month-old daughter.
Friends say he had been especially happy in recent months following the birth of his first daughter after having three sons.
His children shared his love of cricket and often accompanied him to weekend matches.
“He would bring his sons to watch him play,” Nabil recalled. “If he didn’t score many runs, they would tease him and ask why he hadn’t performed better. They loved cricket just as much as he did.”
Those memories have now become a source of comfort for friends and family mourning his loss.
Community Rallies Around Family
Safwan’s funeral was held at Al Qusais Cemetery on Monday, drawing hundreds of community members, friends, and well-wishers.
Members of Dubai’s Bhatkal community have pledged their support to the family during the difficult period ahead.
Jailani Mohtisham, a senior community member who knew Safwan personally, said the decision was made to bury him in the UAE, a tradition many long-term expatriate families from the community have followed over the years.
“This country has been home to many of us for decades,” he said. “We are deeply saddened by Safwan’s passing and will continue to stand by his family.”
For those who shared the cricket field with him every Sunday, the loss remains difficult to comprehend. Just moments before his collapse, Safwan was doing what he loved most, playing cricket among friends, laughing, competing, and enjoying a routine that had become part of his life in Dubai.
Now, the place where he spent countless weekends has become the setting of a farewell no one saw coming.
Safwan Shanu
Supplied
