KOLKATA: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who heads the country’s cricket board, has been admitted to a hospital in Kolkata after testing positive for COVID-19, his brother Snehasish told Reuters on Tuesday.
“Sourav Ganguly has got COVID but he is feeling fine,” Snehasish said by telephone, adding that the positive result came on Monday night.
One of India’s most successful captains, the 49-year-old underwent an angioplasty at the start of the year after complaining of chest discomfort.
India reported over 6,000 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with the number of deaths rising by 293.
About 34.8 million people have contracted the novel coronavirus in the world’s second-most populous nation with confirmed deaths of over 480,000.
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly affectionately known as Dada (meaning “elder brother” in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator, and former national cricket team captain who served as the 35th President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He is popularly called Maharaja of Indian Cricket.
During his playing career, Ganguly established himself as one of the world’s leading batsmen and also one of the most successful captains of the Indian national cricket team.
As captain, he led India to be one of the joint winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, along with Sri Lanka. Ganguly made history as he has the highest score by an Indian batsman in the ICC Champions Trophy with his 141 not out against South Africa in the 2000 tournament.
