India batter Veda Krishnamurthy, who lost her mother on COVID9 on April 23, has been bereaved a second time in a fortnight with her elder sister succumbing to complications to the same virus on May 5 (Wednesday). She was only 42-years-old when she breathed her last.
Vatsala Shivakumar – the elder sister of Veda Krishnamurthy was admitted to a hospital in Chikmagalur, around 245 kilometres from Bengaluru. Although it is understood to have shown decided signs of improvement earlier this week, but she breathed her last around 5.45 pm on Wednesday. As per reports, Vatsala suffered severe lung infection as a result of Covid-19-induced pneumonia.
Veda Krishnamurthy loses her elder sister
Incidentally, she was put on a ventilator on the same her mother – Cheluvamaba Devi succumbed to the deadly virus in a hospital in Kadur. Former India cricketer Reema Malhotra revealed that Veda Krishnamurthy’s sister was recovering before things turned fatal. Reema was closest to Veda and his family for a long time. Both of them are employed with the Western Railways and represented the Railways side on the domestic circuit for several seasons.
“With the help of the hospital staff, Veda’s sister had even begun FaceTiming with Veda and some of her other near and dear ones earlier this week. It is shocking to learn that after losing aunty, we couldn’t save didi either. I can only request everyone to give Veda and her family the time and privacy they need to bear this immense loss,” Reema Malhotra, the former India cricketer, told ESPNcricinfo on Thursday.
According to Reema Malhotra, several members of Veda Krishnamurthy’s family including brother, father, and younger sister has shown symptoms of COVID19 showed last month and later tested positive for the virus. Krishnamurthy returned to Bengaluru by the time the first symptoms of infection among her family appeared. She had gone into self-isolation upon returning to the city and returned a negative test.
The country is going through a second wave with families of MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin tested positive. Sachin Tendulkar, Subramaniam Badrinath, Yusuf Pathan and Harmanpreet Kaur are among the group of players who have contracted the virus in the past two months and recovered since.
Veda Krishnamurthy has played 48 ODIs and 76 T20Is for India.
