Fraternity reaches out to help injured cricketer Jacob Martin

The former Baroda captain Jacob Martin suffered grievous injuries to his lung and liver after being involved in a two-wheeler accident and has been put on ventilator at a private hospital.

A file photo of former India and Baroda cricketer Jacob Martin.

The Indian cricket fraternity has stood firmly behind Jacob Martin, former India batsman and captain of Baroda’s first Ranji Trophy title in 2000-01, who is battling for life in Vadodara since December 28.

Martin, 46, suffered grievous injuries to his lung and liver after being involved in a two-wheeler accident and has been put on ventilator at a private hospital ever since.

After exhausting all the savings, Martin’s wife reached out to Sanjay Patel, the former Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary, when the hospital had warned of limiting the treatment due to escalating treatment costs.

Patel then mediated between Martin’s family and the BCCI and BCA. While the BCCI responded by disbursing Rs. 5 lakh from its Benevolent Fund, the BCA also contributed Rs. 3 lakh for Martin’s medical expenses.

But with the treatment costing at least Rs. 70,000 per day, Patel — who along with some of the other prominent members of Baroda cricket fraternity have been aiding the family financially in its time of distress — decided to reach out to some of Baroda’s former internationals.

“It took just one text message or phone call to the likes of Zaheer Khan, Ravi Shastri, Pathan brothers, Pandya brothers, Ashish (Nehra) and Munaf Patel,” Patel told Sportstar on Monday.

All of them have voluntarily come forward to help the family. Sourav Ganguly called me after reading about it in a newspaper and has been a great support. In fact, we have got support from some of genuine fans from Mumbai who have offered to help.”

Patel hoped with the help of those who have played with and looked up to Martin during his playing days, the former middle-order batsman will recover soon. “With the help and blessings of the cricket fraternity, it seems Jacob’s medical treatment will be taken care of. Now let’s hope he gets out of the critical care unit at the earliest and starts recovering from the unfortunate accident.”

Martin played 10 ODIs and 138 first-class matches during his prolonged career from 1991-92 till 2008-09.