Charlie griffith

Recently, former India cricketer and captain Nari Contractor celebrated his 92nd birthday. He is widely remembered as the cricketer whose international career was cut short after he was struck on the skull by a vicious bouncer from West Indies pacer Charlie Griffith during a tour match against Barbados on India’s 1962 tour of the Caribbean. The match was played between the second Test at Kingston — which turned out to be Contractor’s 31st and final international appearance — and the third Test of the five-match series at Kensington Oval in Barbados.

His skull was fractured and it needed a series of surgeries which saved him. Everywhere it is written that this injury cut short his international cricket career. The brave attempt to stage a comeback to Test cricket was not successful. A very interesting question is why he didn’t play, even after having recovered? Let us look at the facts: