Pataudi critically ill, moved to ICU

Former India cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, who was admitted to a prominent hospital following lung infection, has been shifted to the ICU after doctors found him critically ill.

'Mansur Ali Khan continues to remain critically ill in the ICU. He is on very high level of oxygen support requiring intermittent BIPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure). He is conscious and his cardiac function remains stable. He is being monitored very closely,' read a hospital bulletin.

He is being observed closely by a team of pulmonologists and critical care specialists, it added.

The 70-year-old, who is undergoing treatment at the Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, was admitted last month-end, diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, a condition in which the passage of oxygen to the two lungs is less than normal.

'He is suffering from a disease which does not have proper or permanent cure. It takes time. The patient in such cases breathes out more of carbon dioxide,' a doctor with the hospital said.

Sources said Pataudi's son, actor Saif Ali Khan, and Kareena Kapoor visited the ailing former cricketer at the hospital.

Pataudi, regarded as one of the finest India captains, played 46 Tests, scoring 2793 runs, for an average of 34.91, with an unbeaten 203 his highest score.

He smashed six centuries and 16 fifties during his career.