Ranchi-based mentor Deval Sahay, childhood mentor of former Indian cricketer MS Dhoni has returned home on Friday, 9th October after recovering from several ailments, including COVID-19.
The 73-year-old played a crucial role in shaping Dhoni's early career by providing him turf pitches at the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) to play on in Ranchi and even his character was also portrayed in the former India captain’s biopic “M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story”.
Mr. Sahay spent 40 days in two hospitals where he was put on a ventilator and was treated for a spate of illnesses including COVID-19, deficiency of sodium and potassium, urine infection, low oxygen, accumulation of carbon dioxide in the body, lungs infection due to pneumonia attack, and he also had bed shore.
He was first admitted to the Jagannath Hospital, where he spent a long time on a ventilator, and later, the coach was shifted to the Medica Speciality Hospital after being tested positive for COVID-19.
Sahay’s wife Meena told IANS from Ranchi: “He has returned home, but he is very, very weak. He has to get back his strength and everything. By God’s grace, he is doing well otherwise.”
She added, “He was shifted to the Medica Speciality Hospital from the Jagannath Hospital because of Covid-19 -- one of the hazards of going to a hospital these days. He was shifted to a room in Medica, and he is much better now. He is such a great fighter and that was proved again during his illness.”
Notably, Sahay, a former Director (Personnel) with CCL, hired a young Dhoni on a stipend from the Research and Development (SAIL) in 1997-98, where the budding cricketer's father was working and was the only ground to have turf pitches in Ranchi where his game flourished and the rest is history.
(With IANS Inputs)
