Another test match for Nari

BCCI chief M Chidambaram greets Nari Contractor (right) as he leaves a Trinidad hospital on April 4, 1962 after completing treatment for his head injury in the Indians vs Barbados match at Bridgetown. Contractor’s wife Dolly is on the extreme left. Pic/Mid-day Archives

Nari Contractor last week walked out to bat as it were to face a challenging situation 60 years after playing his last Test match for India.

As reported first in this newspaper, the titanium plate which was inserted by Dr Chandy at Christian Medical College in Tamil Nadu's Vellore following Contractor's injury in the West Indies way back in 1962, had to be removed from his head. Contractor was first treated and consulted doctors in Barbados, Trinidad and New York before the operation at Vellore.

Removal of the plate was imperative since his body was no longer accepting it.

I asked Contractor's former fast bowler son Hoshedar how his father reacted when he was told about the surgery. "He was not worried. The family was more worried than him. He was pretty positive - if it has to be done, it has to be done - and the doctors were convincing when they explained to us about as to why this has to be done," said Hoshedar.

The operation went well and Contractor is back at his Colaba home, but the pink factor in health is never the same shade after surgery. The former India captain is tackling whatever is being thrown at him with his characteristic grit.

The plate removal adds another chapter to the fascinating Nari Contractor story. Yes, the injury suffered through a Charlie Griffith delivery in the Indians versus Barbados game at Bridgetown forms a big part of it, but there are other kudos-worthy aspects in his playing and post-playing cricket journey.

I'll elaborate on one that occurred three years before Barbados 1962. Contractor was up against Fred Trueman, Brian Statham and Alan Moss in the second Test at Lord's. The first at Trent Bridge, like all Tests that English summer, ended England's way.

The fourth ball of Statham's first over, flew from the famous Lord's ridge and hit Contractor on the ribs. Upon falling on the turf, he told stand-in skipper and opening partner Pankaj Roy (Tour captain DK Gaekwad was indisposed) that he wished to return to the pavilion. The breathless Contractor was coaxed by Gaekwad to play the new ball for a few overs so that the No.3 batsman (Polly Umrigar) could have a less difficult time. Contractor agreed, only to watch Statham get rid of Roy and Umrigar. I'll let Contractor describe what happened later (quoted from a conversation I had with him in 2014): "To play against Statham, Trueman and Moss on that wicket with the ridge was a tall order. I was completely exhausted and was not able to breathe. I had fractured two or three ribs. At tea, our manager - the Maharaja of Baroda - asked me to remove my pads and forget it. We had lost six wickets by then so I told the manager that after playing so far, I would go out and have a go. I got out on 81 to leg-break bowler Thomas Greenhough.

"In the second innings, we lost four quick wickets and as Kripal Singh and Vijay Manjrekar were enjoying a decent partnership, Pankaj came to me and said: ‘Brother, please go and bat.' I said: ‘What do you want me to do when I am in a plaster?' By the time l put my pads on Vijay and Kripal were out. I went in at No.8 and stayed not out on 11. I rate that 81 as a tough and memorable innings."

When Contractor drove Moss for four to reach his half century, he had been batting for 190 minutes. A little later, he, according to Yorkshire legend Bill Bowes in the Cricketer magazine, "played the worst stroke of his innings, a real cross bat sweep to leg, to be bowled for 81."

Not only did Contractor get a standing ovation at the pavilion end of the ground for his knock, all the MCC members also stood up in appreciation in the fabled Long Room. And Australian cricket legend Keith Miller, writing in one of the British newspapers said that Contractor deserved the Victoria Cross, awarded for valour.

If anyone deserved a hundred on June 18, it was Contractor for his 81 out of India's total of 168. He could only play his next match on the tour one month later.

In 1962, Contractor resumed cricket activity within a few months of getting back home after surgery. He started off batting with a solar hat at the Cricket Club of India. One Charlie (Griffith) bowled him a bouncer that injured him, but another Charlie - Stayers, who was one of four West Indian fast bowlers roped in by the BCCI to play domestic cricket in India - bowled to him at practice for him to get a feel of the pace. By the next year, he was playing Ranji Trophy cricket.

Sixty years hence, at 88, Contractor has passed yet another test and yes, he deserves a round of wholesome applause.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.