Ireland’s top allrounder Simranjit Singh also known as Simi Singh is fighting for his life. The cricketer is suffering from liver failure and is currently in the Intensive care unit of Medanta, Gurugram. The former Indian cricketer is currently in need of a liver transplant, which he is waiting to receive at the very same hospital.
Simranjit Singh hails from Mohali in Punjab and in his junior years, he was able to play for the state of Punjab at U-14 also at U-17 but could not make it at the U-19 level. In 2005, he had his last flight to Ireland for furthering his education in a hotel management course. What Simranjit didn’t quite fathom is cricket would still find him; even in Ireland. He moved to Dublin, Ireland in 2006 and became a professional player at Malahide cricket club.
Simranjit’s father in law, Parvinder Singh, who is in the core family of the cricketer who acts as primary care provider spoke to TOI about his condition. “Some five-six months back, when he was in Dublin, Ireland, Simi developed a strange kind of fever which kept coming and going. It was treated when he went there but was shown the medical check-up surfaces. The doctors over there told him they were unable to get to the bottom of it all thus they were not going to give him medication,” Parvinder said, while retelling how the whole family had to suffer.
“Because of these circumstances, the process was getting prolonged, and since Simi’s condition was and still is not good, we made an arrangement to bring him to India and get him treated there to ‘better medical attention’. Simranjit reached Mohali in the last week of June and after a couple of doctors, his treatment at PGI commenced. In PGI, the line of treatment was for TB and some medications were provided to him. Later, they came out that he did not have TB.
As the fever was still there in him, we took him to the private hospital in Mohali for a second opinion. There, doctors told us that Simi does not have TB but the course of the medicines which include the potions for this illness – six weeks – need to be finished. Besides the regular doses of TB drugs, he was also administered steroids. Moreover, after that, the fever started coming back up in his case and he also had acute jaundice. Simranjit was taken back to PGI where he was again put in ICU in the week ending third September.”
But his condition remained poor and the doctors at PGI found out that he had developed fulminant liver failure. They similarly recommended that Simi be taken to Medanta, Gurugram, as there was a very strong likelihood of him ‘crossing over’ into a coma and after this a transplant would never be possible. We reached Medanta on Third of September.”
Simranjit is now in Medanta, and he is waiting to be operated for a new liver. His wife Agamdeep Kaur who works in Dublin has consented to transplant some parts of her liver and offered to do the same.
“Simi is blood group AB and therefore they are universal recipients. Thank God blood matching with his wife would not present any challenges according to the doctors. The transplant is likely to be done very soon, and the doctors hold the expectation that the outcome will be of the right side for Simi and will give him a chance to start afresh,” said a close family member.
Simranjit has been a top order batsman and one of the key players in the Ireland crickete over the recent past. The 37-year-old started playing ODIs and T20I for Ireland in 2017 and already debuted in 35 and 53 matches respectively for the country. He has taken 39 wickets in ODI cricket with the best of 5 for 10 and 44 wickets in T20I cricket.
He has, however, not scored an ODI century he has hit, against South Africa, where he faced the bowling of the likes of Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi In the 2020 January he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract from Cricket Ireland the first time contracts where awarded on a full time basis by the association.
