Former India opener Chetan Chauhan died on Sunday due to COVID-19 related complications after being put on life support for nearly 36 hours, his brother Pushpendra Chauhan said. 73-year-old Chauhan, who was also a cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, was receiving treatment for the disease at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital and was on life support.
"My elder brother Shri Chetan Chauhan has left us today after fighting a good battle. I sincerely thank everyone who had prayed for his recovery. His son Vinayak will be reaching anytime and we will then perform last rites," Pushpendra told PTI.
Chauhan, who played 40 Tests for India, was 73 and is survived by his wife and son Vinayak, who is scheduled to arrive from Melbourne later in the day.
Chauhan, who was Sunil Gavaskar's longest serving opening partner, had been admitted at the Sanjay Gandhi PGI Hospital in Lucknow after testing positive for the virus on July 12. Due to kidney related ailments, his health deteriorated and he was shifted to Medanta hospital in Gurugram.
On Friday night, he had a multi-organ failure and was put on ventilator support.
A senior Delhi and Districts Cricket Association official, who had been keeping track of the developments, had told PTI on Saturday: "Early morning today, Chetan ji had a kidney failure and subsequently, had multi-organ failure. He is currently on life support.”
Chetan Chauhan served the DDCA in various capacities -- president, vice-president, secretary and chief selector -- apart from being manager of the Indian Team during a tour of Australia.
Chauhan is the second UP Minister to succumb to COVID-19. Earlier this month, Uttar Pradesh minister Kamal Rani Varun, who had tested positive for coronavirus, also succumbed to the disease. Kamal Rani Varun was the Technical Education Minister of the state and died on August 2 at Lucknow's Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences. She was 62.
Apart from the two, Jai Pratap Singh, Rajendra Pratap Singh, Dharam Singh Saini, Upendra Tiwari, Brajesh Pathak, and Mahendra Singh are among those in the UP Cabinet who had also contracted the infection.