Cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff 3y

Kapil Dev stable after undergoing heart surgery for a blocked artery

Cricket

Kapil Dev, India's greatest allrounder and their 1983-World-Cup-winning captain, has successfully undergone an angioplasty. Dev, who is 61 years old, is understood to be in a stable condition following the procedure, which took place on Thursday evening.

According to Sportstak, who spoke to Dev's wife Romi, the former India captain had complained of uneasiness on Thursday. At the recommendation of the family doctor Dev went to hospital where it was determined he had a blocked artery in the heart.

An angioplasty is a medical procedure that widens blocked or narrowed coronary arteries - the main blood vessels supplying the heart.

In a statement issued on Friday, Fortis Escorts, the hospital where he underwent the procedure, said Dev is in the ICU but "stable". The statement said Dev arrived at Fortis at 1 am on Friday complaining of chest pain.

"He was evaluated and an emergency coronary Angioplasty was performed by Dr. Atul Mathur, Director of Cardiology Department, in the middle of night," the statement said. "Currently, he is admitted in ICU and under close supervision of Dr. Atul Mathur and his team. Mr. Kapil Dev is stable now and he is expected to get discharged in couple of days."

Many cricketers wished him a speedy recovery on Twitter. Later in the day, Dev expressed his gratitude for the concern shown in an Instagram story from his account. "Thank you everyone for all the love and concern. I am overwhelmed with the good wishes and well on the road to recovery," it read.

Dev, who played 131 Tests and 225 ODIs from 1978 to 1994, is widely hailed as one of the finest allrounders to have played the game. With 5248 runs at 31.05 and 434 wickets at 29.64, he remains the only cricketer to have achieved the double of 5000 Test runs and 400 wickets, and one of only two, alongside Ian Botham, to have completed the 5000-300 double.

An outswing bowler of great accuracy and skill, Dev broke Richard Hadlee's record for most Test wickets (431) in 1994, and his mark of 434 stood until 2000, when Courtney Walsh went past it. Muttiah Muralitharan now holds the record for most Test wickets (800) while James Anderson - who currently has 600 - has the most Test wickets by a fast bowler.

^ Back to Top ^