Kolkata: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and International cricket administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was admitted to a hospital three days ago after complaining of chest pain, died on Sunday.
The 75-year-old was admitted to the city’s BM Birla Hospital on Thursday night due to chest pain.
“Mr. Dalmiya died of internal gastrointestinal bleeding and internal organ failure,” hospital sources said, confirming the veteran cricket administrator’s death.
Cricket Association of Bengal sources added: “At 6 PM in the evening his condition deteriorated and shortly afterwards he suffered a massive cardiac arrest from which he could not recover.”
President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condoled the death of Dalmiya.
Dalmiya is survived by his wife Chandralekha, daughter Vaishali and son Abhishek.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly rushed to the hospital. Dalmiya will be remembered as the man who made Indian cricket a self sufficient entity and engineered a shift of power base from its spiritual home at Lord’s to Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
Dalmiya, who had served the BCCI for 36 years, became the treasurer of the organisation in 1983 and was instrumental in helping India host the 1987 and 1996 World Cups. Dalmiya took over the reins of the BCCI for a second time in March this year, after a gap of 10 years, when he got a walkover in the elections. He also served as ICC President from 1997 to 2000.
Due to Dalmiya’s health condition, it had been BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur who was calling the shots from the board’s office. It has been quite some time that Dalmiya has not been able to properly conduct any BCCI meetings in the near past due to health concerns.
Reportedly, Dalmiya could not coherently answer any questions when he met the three-member SC appointed panel headed by Justice RM Lodha, where his son was prompting all the questions to him.
There have been dissenting voices in BCCI about his failing health and recently there were calls to remove him from the post of president.
