On the night of December 30, Sourav Ganguly walked into the Eden Gardens, the place the Bengal crew’s follow session was underway. The BCCI president had simply walked out of the state cricket board’s annual assembly and determined to drop in on the floor that had made him.
Saurasish Lahiri, Ganguly’s one-time Bengal teammate and the present U-23 Bengal coach, requested him, “Dada, hope you’re still training?”
Ganguly replied he had been so tied down with work that he had been lacking extra days of coaching than common. He stayed for a couple of minutes, had some phrases with the likes of Ranadeb Bose and Manoj Tiwary, and headed out to his subsequent engagement.
Three days later, Lahiri was watching the afternoon information at house, when he noticed an merchandise that made his coronary heart skip a beat. With trembling arms, he picked up his telephone and dialed one other former Bengal participant – “Is it true? Has Dada had a heart attack?”
Former Bengal captain and nationwide selector Sambaran Banerjee, who has recognized Ganguly since he was eight years outdated, acquired the same name at 1:15 pm. He rushed to the Woodlands Hospital, to see Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee already there. The CM requested him: “How is it that a sportsman can have a heart attack? How is it that someone as fit as Sourav had a heart attack? It doesn’t fit.”
By night, a press convention was held on the hospital premises as Bengal waited with bated breath. The docs mentioned Ganguly was steady and that he had been saved due to the promptness with which he had come to the hospital.
CM Mamata Banerjee together with MLA Baishali Dalmia, CP Anuj Sharma popping out after visiting Saurav Ganguly. (Express photograph by Partha Paul)
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Sambaran Banerjee mentioned, “On the face of it, it seems impossible that Sourav had a heart attack. But there have been numerous incidents of sportsmen, in great health otherwise, suffering heart attacks – Cristiano Junior and Ewan Chatfield for instance.”
“I was with Dean Jones in Mumbai when he suffered a heart attack last year. We were part of the same commentary panel. We stayed in the same hotel, we had breakfast together, he used to like to talk to me. Nobody could have guessed he would suffer a heart attack. He was supremely fit, went out for morning runs every day, used to eat sparingly,” mentioned Banerjee.
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“I know Sourav never smoked or drank. He took his fitness very seriously and trained as often as he could. But he might have been feeling stressed. He had told me once he would never join politics, and I do not think he is someone who should, but it is possible that he would be feeling pressure from all the recent reports doing the rounds linking him with politics,” he mentioned.
“That might have been a trigger for the attack, let us see what the doctors say. He will be released from hospital in a day or two,” he added.
A mark of how curiously integral Ganguly had turn out to be to the pre-Assembly ballot information cycle in Bengal is that his hospital guests have ranged from the CM to the Governor to native heads of practically all political events lively in Bengal. Speculation of his entry into politics is never-ending and he has additionally been touted as a chief ministerial candidate of the BJP.
MoS Finance Anurag Thakur and Swapan Dasgupta visited hospital to see Sourav Ganguly in Kolkata on Monday (Express photograph by Partha Paul)
Lahiri, who has skilled alongside Ganguly, says he’s significantly shocked as a result of he is aware of Ganguly paid particular consideration to cardio and endurance coaching.
“He lives a very disciplined life. Even in his later days, we saw him taking his fitness as seriously as anyone else in the team. All of us were shocked when the news came through on Saturday, but we are more positive now because he is improving every day,” he mentioned.
Sumit Mukherjee, a veteran Kolkata journalist who has seen Ganguly from his U-15 days, mentioned information of the previous India captain’s coronary heart assault has jolted Kolkata like nothing else may.
A particular ‘Sourav Ganguly lounge’ with tea, espresso and water has been arrange on the Woodlands Multispecialty Hospital. (Special Arrangement)
“Sourav Ganguly is the ideal Bengali, the greatest Bengali icon since Uttam Kumar. He is a fighter and he is intelligent, qualities all of us aspire to but cannot reach. We all want the courage and conviction to be able to wave our shirts from the Lord’s balcony but are unable to do it. That is why Ganguly is always in our hearts. Unfortunately, it is his heart that is under pressure now, so we are all concerned,” he mentioned.
Also mentioning the quantity of stress Ganguly has needed to take up in current occasions – being answerable for the Indian cricket board in a 12 months of disaster for the game and being linked to politics – Mukherjee mentioned stress was the likeliest set off for the assault.
“We will support him whether he joins BJP, TMC or CPM. In our eyes, Sourav Ganguly can do no wrong. But that is also pressure,” he mentioned.
