Hyderabad, April 24: A six-year-old fielder died after being hit by a ball during a game of cricket with older friends near his home in Hyderabad yesterday.

Vamshi Krishna's parents have complained to police against the batsman, a 14-year-old boy who was their son's friend and neighbour.

A case of unnatural death has been registered. The incident is the second cricket fatality this week after Calcutta's Ankit Keshri died of injuries suffered in an on-field collision with a team-mate.

A 12-year-old who was playing with Vamshi yesterday said it was a friendly and casual game.

"Vamshi had been playing with us for the past few days. We don't have a coach and we used regular cork-balls," said the boy, declining to give his name.

Doctors at Osmania Hospital, where Vamshi was declared "brought dead", said the upper KG student took "grievous" hits in his chest and head.

"The boy was grievously injured by the ball, which hit him in his chest and head," a doctor said, adding a post-mortem had to be conducted becausea case had been filed.

The boy's body was brought to the complex today and the last rites performed this evening.

Vamshi's mother admitted she had been sending her son out to play with the older boys for the past few days and felt confident nothing would happen.

But she rued the lack of precautions by the older boys for a kid Vamshi's age. She requested anonymity to avoid the media glare because of alleged pressure from neighbours to withdraw the case.

"If only the (other) boys had considered his age and put him in a safe area on the field, he would have lived," said the tearful mother, who has another son and a daughter. Her husband is a businessman.

The police said most of the boys playing street cricket yesterday in Vanasthalipuram, an upper-middle-class neighbourhood that is home mostly to real-estate developers and other businessmen, were around12 years old and lived in the same complex.

A resident of the complex, Sahara Estates, who lives on the same floor as Vamshi's family described the child as "a very sweet boy who always wanted to play with bigger children".

Assistant commissioner of police B. Bhaskar described the incident as a "stray and freak event".

"Although no one had any intention to cause injury, a case was registered and investigation is on under Section 174 of CrPC (related to unnatural death) without naming anyone in particular," Bhaskar said.