The Indian cricket team toured the West Indies 60 years ago in 1962. In that tour, a bouncer from Caribbean bowler Charlie Griffith was hit in the head of Contractor, batting. The former cricketer of Team India was hit in the head at such a high speed that his head was torn off. At that time, doctors had put a metal plate on Nori Contractor’s head.
That metal plate has now been removed after 60 years through surgery in a hospital in Mumbai. Actually, the woman contractor started complaining of headache. After this the plate was removed from his head on medical advice. Nari Contractor’s son Hoshedar told The Indian Express that his father is fine after the surgery and will be discharged from the hospital soon.
Hoshedar said, ‘The operation has been successful. He will be fine soon. He will stay in the hospital for a few more days. After consulting the doctor, we will take him home. We will take one step at a time. Due to the metal plate, the skin there was getting removed. The doctors had advised to remove the plate. Our family was a little worried. It is not a major operation, but it was definitely an important one.
The 88-year-old Nari Contractor played 31 Test matches for India. He also played 138 first-class matches. His international career came to a halt after that injury. However, he did return to first-class cricket. Another brilliant innings of his was also seen against England in 1959. Then he played an innings of 81 runs at Lord’s despite broken ribs.
Nari Contractor was unconscious for 6 days after her head exploded in 1962. During the surgery, at least 5 people donated blood to save the life of the woman contractor. They included great West Indies captain Frank Worrell, Chandu Borde, Bapu Nadkarni, Polly Umrigar and journalist KN Prabhu. After that injury, Nari Contractor had several operations. Later, after a two-and-a-half-hour operation at a hospital in Tamil Nadu, a metal plate was placed on his head.