Deval Sahay, the mentor of the former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni passed away due to prolonged illness on Tuesday. Sahay, 73, suffered multi-organ failure leading to his death in a hospital in the state capital of Ranchi.
Dhoni considered Sahay as his mentor and shared a personal camaraderie with him during the early days of his career.
Deval, originally called Deobrat was known to prepare first turf pitches in Ranchi was survived by his family comprising of his wife, a daughter and a son.
He was admitted to the hospital after complaining of breathing problems which later turned to be due to coronavirus. He was later discharged on October 9 after recovering from the commrbidty.
“After spending about 10 days at home, he was again admitted to a hospital when he developed complications. And today at around 3 am, he passed away,” Sahay’s son Abhinav Akash Sahay told IANS.
Meenakshhi Sahay lives in London is currently in Ranchi is also present with the family for the funeral at their residence.
Sahay was a Chief Engineer at Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), retired as the Director of personnel at the same company. Both him and MS Dhoni’s father started their career working at the company named MECON.
Dhoni credits Sahay for allowing him to play on turf pitches when he started playing cricket while in school.
