India play down rumours of Greg King's illness

Greg King, the Indian trainer, has been admitted to a hospital in Ahmedabad with a viral fever. He has been in hospital for approximately two days with intermittent fever. In the wake of widespread concern across the country over the spread of dengue fever and chikunguniya the hospital staff have understandably taken all precautions.

While there was little clarity over exactly what King was suffering from, it is understood that he was scheduled to be released on Thursday morning, and was prescribed strong medication to cover all eventualities. "The fever has come down now, and the test results are also clear," Rajan Nair, the media manager of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said, late on Wednesday night.

The news spread late on Wednesday evening and created a buzz among the media, as several stories did the rounds claiming that King was suffering from chikunguniya. However, team sources said that there was no confirmation from the hospital about exactly what King was suffering from, and said that it was merely a viral fever. Another source in the BCCI also confirmed that it was expected that King would be present in the dressing-room when the match against West Indies began.

In the normal course the trainer of the Indian team being admitted to hospital with a viral fever would not make news. But the country is in the grips of anxiety over chikunginiya and dengue, with several hundred people having died because of the illnesses.