Agartala: Out-of-favour India opener and current Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal was rushed to a local hospital after falling ill just before his New Delhi-bound flight was about to take off, state cricket association sources said on Tuesday.
He is believed to be out of danger.
Mayank, who has played 21 Tests for India, led Karnataka to a 29-run win against Tripura on Monday.
“He (Agarwal) is not in any kind of danger. He is under observation currently in a hospital at Agartala, and we will fly him back to Bengaluru once we get an update from the doctors, which we are expecting tonight,” a Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
However, Agarwal will not play the next Ranji Trophy game against Railways in Surat.
“He will not be playing in Karnataka’s next match (against Railways at Surat from February 2). But other than that, there is no truth in any rumours going around. He is stable now, and we are in touch with doctors and other state officials,” the official said.
Nikin Jose is expected to take over the team’s captaincy in the next match as he is the designated vice-captain.
IndiGo issued a statement, which didn’t elaborate the reason for a medical emergency.
“IndiGo flight 6E 5177 operating from Agartala to Delhi returned to origin due to a medical emergency onboard. The passenger was off-loaded and was rushed to the hospital for further medical assistance. The aircraft took off again for its destination at 1620h,” the airline said in its press release.
Agarwal, who scored 51 and 17 in the last game, was supposed to travel with the whole team to Surat via Delhi, when the incident happened. Karnataka are playing Railways in Surat in their next match.
“The team was on flight and apparently Agarwal started feeling uneasy and vomited a couple of times sitting on the flight. Since he started feeling sick, he de-boarded.
“From KSCA MR Shahvir Tarapore called and we quickly sent two of our representatives to the ILS hospital. He is under observation and we are told doctors are running some tests. Now there are multiple theories as to what he might have consumed,” a Tripura Cricket Association official said on the condition of anonymity.
He will fly back to Bengaluru the moment he is in a position to travel.
Multiple sources said that Agarwal probably mistook some other transparent liquid as water and drank it, after which he started feeling uneasy.
