Former India cricketer and UP minister Chetan Chauhan put on ventilator support

Former India player Chetan Chauhan, who was tested positive for COVID-19 in early July, was put on ventilator support on Friday night. Chauhan is also a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.

Chauhan, in July, was admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi PGI Hospital in Lucknow in July. Unable to recover from COVID-19, Chauhan had developed kidney and blood pressure problems, following which he was shifted to the ventilator on Friday.

73-year-old Chauhan, who donned the Indian jersey in 40 Tests and 7 ODIs, holds the portfolios of Sainik Welfare, Home Guards, PRD and Civil Security in the Yogi Adityanath cabinet. Till last year, Chauhan served as the sports minister of the state. He has been a member of the BJP and was a Lok Sabha MP twice.

Chauhan had made his Test debut against New Zealand in 1969. In a career spanning over 40 Tests, the right-handed batsman scored 2084 runs at an average of 31.57. He scored 16 half-centuries with the red ball but failed to amass a Test ton. Chauhan also represented India in seven ODIs, scoring 153 runs from them.

Chetan Chauhan was the first player in Tests to score over 2000 runs without a hundred

Chauhan, along with Sunil Gavaskar, formed a successful opening partnership and scored over 3,000 runs together with 10 century stands in the traditional format. One of the iconic partnership between the duo came in 1979 at the Oval when they gathered 213 on the board and broke the long-standing 203-run partnership record of Merchant and Mushtaq Ali.

Despite scoring over 2000 runs in Tests, Chauhan was considered unlucky to not get a ton to his name. He was the first player in Test history to score more than 2000 runs without a hundred. He also scored a lot of runs while representing Delhi and Maharashtra in domestic cricket. In 179 First-class matches, he gathered over 11,000 runs at an impressive average of 40.22, which included 21 centuries and 59 half-centuries.

The veteran’s last international appearance was in 1981 against New Zealand. Chauhan was dropped after the tour and never selected for another Test. In 1981, he was also awarded the Arjuna Award. and eventually, he paved his way to politics. After retiring, Chauhan became a selector from North Zone and was elected to Parliament on a BJP ticket. Chauhan was elected twice as to the Lok Sabha from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh– in 1991 and 1998.