David Johnson, ex-India cricketer, passes away after falling from balcony; police suspect suicide

According to those in the know, Johnson has been battling health issues for the past year and has been in and out of hospital. It is learnt that Johnson spent the last week at the hospital and was discharged only three days ago.

As a mark of respect, India wore black armbands in their T20 World Cup Super 8 match against Afghanistan.

“Saddened to hear the passing of my cricketing colleague David Johnson. Heartfelt condolences to his family. Gone too soon “ Benny”!” former India captain and Johnson’s teammate Anil Kumble posted on X.

Those in touch with the retired cricketer say Johnson wasn’t financially stable for a while and as a result his family has sought help from friends.

On the back of a strong domestic performance for Karnataka, Johnson made his Test debut in the inaugural Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Feroz Shah Kotla in 1996. He then even accompanied the team to the tour of South Africa and played the first Test at Durban. That happened to be his last international outing.

During the late 90s, when Karnataka dominated the domestic circuit, Johnson was part of the pace battery which included Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad and Dodda Ganesh. And like his international career, even his first-class career didn’t last long as he retired after the 2001/02 season. He played 39 first-class matches, and picked up 125 wickets at an average of 28.63 and had a strike-rate of 47.4. Johnson also has a FC century to his name.

Despite being part of a star-studded Karnataka team, what stood about Johnson was his attitude to never give up. “He was quick and would always give everything,” Ganesh recalled to The Indian Express. “There was a period where four of us — Srinath, Prasad, Johnson and myself were part of the Indian team. It just shows how good he was. We came from the same place so Johnson and I played a lot of cricket together. And he just loved bowling fast,” Ganesh added.

In 2009 as the KSCA launched the Karnataka Premier League, he came out of retirement and turned up for Belagavi Panthers. And after a six year hiatus during which time he was part of the BCCI’s panel of match officials, Johnson came back and featured in the KPL again in 2015 playing five matches in the season.

Since his first-class retirement, Johnson has been doing odd jobs for survival, even moving to Chennai before coming back to the cricketing fold thanks to former India batsman and KSCA administrator Brijesh Patel.

According to those in his close circles, to help him financially, a benefit match was also organised and the funds from the match were used to get him a house, in which he lived.

In the last few years, Johnson was also involved in conducting periodic coaching camps in Bengaluru. But owing to different issues, he couldn’t prolong even his coaching career.