MUMBAI: Former India opener and Mumbai captain Sudhir Naik has been admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the Hinduja Hospital after suffering a fall at his residence in Dadar on March 24. Currently, the 78-year-old is unconscious and is believed to be in a "serious condition."
"He stays alone after his wife passed away a few years back. I'm going to the hospital to meet him. His daughter and son-in-law are flying to Mumbai tomorrow," former Mumbai Cricket Association president Ravi Savant, who is a close friend of Naik, told TOI on Tuesday.
Naik played three Tests (141 runs@23.50) and 2 ODIs 38 runs@19.00) between 1974-75. In a successful first-class career, Naik scored 4376 runs in 85 matches@35.29, with 7 hundreds and 27 fifties. He scored 2687 runs (40.10) with a highest score of 200 not out against Baroda in 1973-74, for Bombay (now Mumbai) in the Ranji Trophy.
One of his biggest achievements was that he led Bombay to an unexpected, memorable Ranji Trophy triumph in 1970-71. It was a badly depleted side with all the Bombay stars of that time being away with the Indian team in the West Indies.
He was the owner & coach of the National Cricket Club, which produced the likes of Zaheer Khan and Wasim Jaffer. He was also the curator of the iconic Wankhede Stadium in the city for a number of years, and most memorably during the 2011 World Cup final.
