Sourav Ganguly autographs a bat for Sumit. (Madhumita Nandi)

Ten-year-old Sumit Kumar was neither shy nor nervous meeting his idol Sourav Ganguly. He chatted with Dada excitedly, telling him how much he enjoyed his shots and when Dada asked him how he was, he said he felt fine, even though he has been undergoing painful bone marrow transplants.

Little Sumit suffers from aplastic anaemia, a life-threatening condition, and has been admitted at Tata Medical Center for more than three months. His greatest wish was to meet Ganguly and this was arranged by Make-A-Wish Foundation, an NGO that grants a wish to children with life-threatening diseases.

Ganguly chatted with the boy, asking him where he was from (Dhanbad), which school we went to (Bharatiya Vidya Mandir), if he had any siblings (an eight-year-old sister) and if he liked chocolates. When Sumit said he loved chocolates Ganguly offered him a box of Ferrero Rocher and a cake. “Keep these in your room and eat them. I’ll send more when they finish,” said the smiling former Indian captain.

The NGO had also arranged for a cricket gear for Sumit, out of which Ganguly autographed the bat, jersey and track pants. Sumit told Dada that he enjoyed watching him play the IPL games and that he was an ardent supporter of Pune Warriors. The “smart boy”, as Ganguly called him, went up to him with a diary twice, first asking for an autograph and the second time for his phone number.

The second time around, a bevy of people were seen rushing up to Sumit and asking to see Dada’s number. Almost immediately a member of Ganguly’s staff came up and told them that this number was his and not Ganguly’s. Ganguly wished the boy a speedy recovery and said that he admired his fighting spirit.

“My son likes Sachin and Dhoni too but Ganguly holds a special place in his heart,” says Sumit’s mother Shobha Devi, who has been staying here with him for the past three months for treatment. “He hasn’t been attending school for a year now but a bat and ball always cheers him up.” Sumit gladly demonstrated some shots with his new bat.

Programme co-ordinator of the Salt Lake-based Calcutta branch of Make-A-Wish Foundation, Sakuntala Chanda says that Ganguly had agreed to come visit the child as soon as he was approached. “In fact we had planned to fly Sumit to Mumbai for the Pune Warriors vs Mumbai Indians game. Even Harbajan Singh had agreed to meet the boy. All plans had been finalised but in the last minute Sumit got very ill and we had to postpone the meeting.”