Bengal all-rounder Avik Chowdhury battling for life

"T

he 24-year-old is on a ventilator and paralysed from below the waist," Cricket Association of Bengal joint-secretary Biswarup Dey said today after visiting the cricketer at the Ruby General Hospital.

According to hospital sources, two neuro surgeons from the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi and a spinal chord specialist from Chennai would be arriving soon to attend the cricketer.

"There was haemorrhage in the lungs, but it has stopped today. There is still threat to his life, but his condition has improved slightly," said an attending doctor at the ICCU.

"He has sustained injuries in the abdomen, diaphragm and the spinal cord with fractures in three vertebrae. His entire lower half is paralysed. Until his condition is stable, we cannot operate upon him. Even MRI could not be done to assess the damage to his spinal chord," he said.
Chowdhury was driving a car that went out of control and rammed into a divider between Kalikapur and Ruby Hospital on the Eastern Metropolitan bypass.

Chowdhury played Bengal's practice match at Eden Gardens yesterday and bowled two overs for 16 runs with one wicket and scored 15 from eight balls.
After playing the match, he picked up his friends from Golf Green and was driving to Lake Town when the accident took place.
Chowdhury is a member of the Bengal squad for the Mushtaq Ali East Zone T20 meet in Dhanbad. The players will leave tomorrow without the promising all-rounder.

"The CAB is giving full support to Chowdhury. The state sport minister Kanti Ganguly too is giving his full cooperation," CAB joint-secretary Dey said.
An employee of the income tax department, Chowdhury also led Bengal at the junior level and plays for Kalighat at the club-level.

Having made his Ranji debut last season, Chowdhury was also a part of the preliminary Kolkata Knight Riders squad.
He has seven first-class matches and 13 List A matches, and turned out for Indian Revenue in the BCCI Corporate Trophy last month, where he scored an unbeaten 110 against ITC in Mohali.