Ex-India cricket captain Umrigar now 'better'

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali Jul 10, 2006, 11:58 GMT

New Delhi, July 10 (IANS) The condition of former India cricket captain Polly Umrigar, now battling lymph cancer, is 'better', according to his wife, though he is mostly confined to bed at his Mumbai residence.

'He is generally better now, but is mostly in bed,' Umrigar's wife Dinoo told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.

'He often moves within the house with the help of a walker,' she said about her 80-year-old husband.

Umrigar, a master right-handed batsman, played 59 Tests between 1948 and 1962.

He has completed two rounds of chemotherapy and will be going in for the third round in less than a month.

'He will be going to his oncologist for the third round of chemotherapy in about three weeks, depending upon the blood count,' Dinoo said.

Umrigar, also a former executive secretary of the Indian cricket board, had been twice admitted to a hospital in a little over a month.

Umrigar, who led India in eight Tests, scored 3,631 runs at 42.22 in 94 innings of 59 Tests since making debut against the West Indies at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in December 1948.

He also captured 35 wickets with his off-spinners.

Umrigar lives in 'Sportsfield' apartments, which also houses other cricket luminaries like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajit Wadekar and Ravi Shastri.

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service