Former Karnataka Ranji trophy player Syed Imtiaz Ahmed breathed his last on Friday night after a brief illness in Bengaluru. He was 66.

Imtiaz debuted for Karnataka in 1973 and played 13 games (348 runs and 3 wickets). In 17 outings for the state, Imtiaz scored 348 runs with the highest score of 72.

Later, he went on to team up with Brijesh Patel to launch the BPIACA (Brijesh Patel and Imtiaz Ahmed Cricket Academy) in 1997 at Bengaluru, before splitting and opening up a academy of his own (IACA) in 1998, which continues to run to this day in Bengaluru.