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The Dauntless Nari Contractor
The story dates back to 17th March, 1962 when the Indian cricket team was on a tour of the West Indies. The Indians were facing some of the best cricketers representing the island of Barbados – an island, considered to be the gold mine of players.
The portents were all there. An easy batting wicket with Wasley Hall, a frightening West Indian giant with smooth bowling action, at one end. At the other end an equally frightening terror who had earned a nasty reputation for 'chucking', named Charlie Griffith. The latter was largely unknown to the Indian side. 'Big Charlie' was playing on his home ground at Bridgetown and his favourite fans were cheering every action of his.
The Indian team was plagued by many injuries. They had already lost two test matches and today they were shellshocked.
Nari Contractor, the Indian skipper who had celebrated his 28th birthday just a few days before had decided to keep away from the Barbados match because he had played all the earlier matches. But as luck would have it, quite a few injuries on the Indian side had narrowed down his choice and he had no alternative but to play the Barbados encounter.
To be exact, the present story relates to the post-lunch play on the second day at the Kensington oval ground situated at Bridgetown. The second over was being bowled. The
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