Former India captain Nari Contractor was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award (Male) on the Sportstar Aces Awards 2026 in Mumbai on Friday, a night that celebrated not solely a distinguished profession but in addition one in all Indian cricket’s most enduring tales of braveness.
As Contractor walked on stage to obtain the honour from Sunil Gavaskar, chairman of the Sportstar Aces Awards jury, and Jayen Mehta (MD, Amul), the packed ballroom rose in a rapturous standing ovation.
Nariman Jamshedji “Nari” Contractor was one in all India’s best opening batters of the late Nineteen Fifties and early Nineteen Sixties. A trendy left-hander with compact approach and immense resolve, he made his Test debut in 1955 and went on to play 31 Tests, scoring 1,611 runs at a median of 31.58, with a highest rating of 108 and 11 half-centuries.
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In 1961, aged simply 26, Contractor grew to become India’s youngest Test captain on the time. Under his management, India secured a historic sequence victory over England in 1961-62, a landmark second within the nation’s cricketing journey.
Yet Contractor’s profession is remembered as a lot for his bravery as for his runs. During India’s tour of the West Indies in 1962, he suffered a life-threatening harm after being struck on the pinnacle by a bouncer from quick bowler Charlie Griffith. The blow fractured his cranium and required a number of surgical procedures. Contractor survived after receiving a number of blood transfusions, together with one from West Indies captain Sir Frank Worrell.
Even after such trauma, Contractor returned to the sport he beloved, resuming home cricket and constructing a positive First-Class profession. Across 138 matches, he scored 8,611 runs at a median near 40, together with 22 centuries.
Sunil Gavaskar recalled recommendation from Nari Contractor that helped him form his profession.
| Photo Credit:
Vijay Soneji
Sunil Gavaskar recalled recommendation from Nari Contractor that helped him form his profession.
| Photo Credit:
Vijay Soneji
For Gavaskar, presenting the award carried deep private which means.
“For me it is an incredible honour to be able to present this award to Nari bhai,” Gavaskar stated, his voice thick with emotion.
Recalling Contractor’s instance, Gavaskar spoke of a second from the 1959 Lord’s Test that had left a long-lasting impression on him as a younger boy.
“Very early in the innings he got hit in the chest by Brian Statham and broke a rib. But he carried on batting for another two or three hours and finally got out for 81. For somebody who was just looking at playing a little bit of street cricket, it was inspirational.”
The lesson, Gavaskar stated, stayed with him. “If you want to be an opening batter, be prepared to take pain and bat for your country. You should be able to put your life on the line.”
Gavaskar additionally recalled a chunk of recommendation from Contractor that formed his personal profession.
“He once told me, ‘Sunil, write down in a diary every time you do well; what you did from the moment you woke up. Literally everything, from brushing your teeth to what you had for breakfast, how you went to the ground, where you sat, how you felt.’ And when you go through a bad patch, read that page again. It will give you the confidence that you can bat and score runs. I never forgot that advice from Nari bhai.”
Earlier, former Indian hurdler M. D. Valsamma was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award (Female), recognising her pioneering position in Indian athletics.
Over a profession spanning practically 15 years, M. D. Valsamma competed throughout Asian Games, Asian championships and SAF Games, changing into one of many trailblazers of ladies’s athletics in India.
| Photo Credit:
Emmanual Yogini
Over a profession spanning practically 15 years, M. D. Valsamma competed throughout Asian Games, Asian championships and SAF Games, changing into one of many trailblazers of ladies’s athletics in India.
| Photo Credit:
Emmanual Yogini
The Kannur-born athlete emerged as one in all India’s main observe and discipline rivals within the late Seventies and Nineteen Eighties, dominating the 400 m hurdles. She created historical past on the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, profitable gold with a time of 58.47 seconds that set each Asian and nationwide information. The victory made her the second Indian girl to win a person Asian Games gold and the primary to take action on dwelling soil.
Valsamma additionally represented India on the 1984 Summer Olympics, the place the Indian ladies’s 4×400 m relay workforce reached the ultimate for the primary time within the nation’s Olympic historical past. Over a profession spanning practically 15 years, she competed throughout Asian Games, Asian championships and SAF Games, changing into one of many trailblazers of ladies’s athletics in India.
She obtained the award from former India ladies’s cricket captain Diana Edulji and Jayen Mehta.
Published on Mar 13, 2026
