Former NZ cricketer Chris Cairns off life support, able to communicate with family

It has been learned that former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns is off life support and has been able to communicate with his family from a hospital in Sydney, Australia. The veteran all-rounder suffered aortic dissection at his home in Canberra earlier this month due to which Chris Cairns underwent multiple operations before being placed on life support. Chris Cairns health update: How is Chris Cairns now? Chris Cairns was moved to a specialty hospital in Sydney as per reports for an emergency heart surgery last week and has been on life support since. Now, a statement from a family spokesperson on Friday provided encouraging news of the 51-year-old's health. "I'm pleased to advise that Chris is off life support and has been able to communicate with his family from hospital in Sydney. He and his family are thankful for all of the support and well wishes from everyone, and for the privacy, they have been afforded. They request that this continues as they focus on his recovery moving forward," the statement read as quoted by NZ Herald. Chris Cairns life support: The controversial career of one of the finest all-rounders Chris Cairns, who captained New Zealand in the 50-over format, is considered one of the greatest all-rounders to have ever played for his country. Cairns is one of only eight all-rounders in the world to reach a double in Test cricket, which is 200 wickets and 3,000 runs. Cairns is the third-fastest cricketer in the world to reach his Test double of 200 wickets and 3,000 runs in 58 Tests, only behind Ian Botham and Kapil Dev (50 Tests). Cairns has played 62 Tests and 215 ODIs for New Zealand between 1989 and 2006. He has 3,320 runs in the longest format and 4,950 in ODI cricket, including 218 and 201 wickets, respectively. In the later stage of his career, Cairns was caught up in a match-fixing scandal while playing in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League. He was captain of Chandigarh Lions in the short-lived league and was accused of fixing games. Cairns rejected all the claims and was later acquitted of all charges. Former New Zealand captain Brandon McCullum later accused Cairns of approaching him with fraudulent requests to manipulate matches. McCullum's timing of the allegations was questioned by Cairns, who wondered why he waited three years to file a complaint. Cairns was also embroiled in a court dispute with Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman, who accused him of rigging matches in 2008. Cairns filed and won legal accusations against Modi. However, due to financial difficulties, Cairns was forced to scrub bus shelters after waging back-to-back court fights in the closing stages of his career. Cairns and his family then relocated to Australia's Canberra.

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Former NZ cricketer Chris Cairns off life support, able to communicate with family

It has been learned that former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns is off life support after undergoing emergency heart surgery in a Sydney hospital.

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