Jayalalithaa's 'great crush' on cricketer Nari Contractor

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Bengaluru, Dec 6: J Jayalalithaa had a connection with cricket and one player in particular. An interview of hers in the 1990s has gone viral on social media where Jayalalithaa talks about her "great crush" on a cricketer.

Jayalalithaa passes away

In a candid interview to former actress Simi Garewal, Jayalalithaa said she had a "great crush" on India batsman Nari Contractor.

In the interview, Simi asks Jayalalithaa about her dreams and crushes as a schoolgirl and she revealed the names of Contractor and Bollywood actor Shammi Kapoor.

"Yes indeed (I had crushes). I remember having a great crush on Nari Contractor, the cricketer. I used to go to Test matches just to watch him. And I had another great crush on Shammi Kapoor," Jayalalithaa said in the interview.

Fomer captain Contractor, played 31 Tests for India. He made his Test debut in 1955 and played his last Test in 1962. The 82-year-old Contractor's international career was tragically cut short after being hit on the head by a bouncer on the Caribbean islands.

In 1962, in a tour game in Barbados, left-handed batsman Contractor was hit on the head by West Indian fast bowler Charile Griffith's bouncer. He had bleeding from nose and ears and later rushed to a hospital where he had a surgeries.

According to "Wisden", this is what happened. "Contractor did not duck into the ball. He got behind it to play at it. He probably wanted to fend it away towards short-leg, but could not judge the height to which it would fly, bent back from the waist in a desperate, split-second attempt to avoid it and was hit just above the right ear."

Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa passed away on Monday night (December 5) in Chennai.

OneIndia News