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Home › Teams › India › Players › Polly Umrigar

Polly Umrigar

Full Name
Pahlanji Ratanji Umrigar
Born
28-03-1926 Sholapur, Maharashtra, India
Died On
November 7, 2006

Major Teams
India
Batting Style
Right-hand bat
Bowling Style
Right-arm medium, Off-break
Polly Umrigar

Videos: Polly Umrigar

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Polly Umrigar Biography

Pahlan Ratanji “Polly” Umrigar could not have chosen a better occasion to come of age as a Test batsman. Till then he boasted a total of 143 runs in five Tests at 20.14. In fact, he had been omitted from original team to play England in the Chennai Test and managed to sneak in only due to a wrist injury to Hemu Adhikari.
 
The tall, well-built Parsee walked out to bat on the third morning with the score on 216 for 5 in reply to England’s 266 — the match evenly poised. He batted four-and a-half hours and walked back unbeaten on 130. After that, Vinoo Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed spun India to their first-ever victory in a Test match.
 
With this hundred Polly Umrigar had scripted his name in eternal characters in the annals of Indian cricket. Eleven more Test centuries would grace his fantastic career. But Umrigar considered this to be the best innings of his life.
 
According to KN Prabhu, Umrigar was the link between two generations. While he was schooled by the no-risk approach of Vijay Merchant and Vijay Hazare, his broad range of strokes, powerful hitting ability, thundering drives, cuts and pulls made his style reminiscent of the romantic adventure associated with the cavalier thirties. Additionally, his ability to often hit sixes at will made him a huge crowd puller.
 
Unfortunately, he could not come to terms with Fred Trueman on English pitches. Despite his imposing physique, he, as Mihir Bose wrote, “backed away to square-leg,” leaving the young Yorkshireman to hit timber without anything obstructing his view.
 
John Arlott described him as a poised and skilful murderer of any bowling short of top pace and class. Yes, Freddie Trueman troubled him with his pace, and he infamously backed away towards the square leg. But, through the fifties and early sixties Umrigar remained the backbone of the Indian side.
 
In 1962, India lost all the five Tests in West Indies, most of them one-sided routs. Nari Contractor almost died when the ball from Charlie Griffith cracked his skull in the match against Barbados. But Umrigar stood tall among the ruins in the Tests, scoring a serene 445 runs at 49.44. His 56 and 172 not out followed by 5 for 124 at Kingston remains strangely unsung, while it is actually comparable to the immortal Vinoo Mankad feat at Lord's. The series was a rousing swansong for the man who served India so dedicatedly for so long.
 
His final figures were mind-boggling for that era — especially for an Indian batsman. In 59 Tests he notched up 3,631 runs at 42.22 with 12 hundreds. His bowling was used sparingly but the 35 wickets included two five-wicket hauls. At the time of retirement he possessed all the major Test match records for India, highest number of Tests, runs and centuries. They would be rewritten — all by another man from Bombay named Sunil Gavaskar. But Polly Umrigar remained one of the greatest Indian cricket had ever seen.
 
Arunabha Sengupta

Polly Umrigar Batting & Fielding Averages

Career M In R NO HS Avg BF SR 100s 50s 4s 6s Ct St
Test 59 94 3631 8 223 42.22 -- -- 12 14 195 -- 33 0
ODIs 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
T20s 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
World Cup 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Polly Umrigar Bowling Averages

Career M B R W Avg EC SR 5WI 10WM BBI BBM
Test 59 4725 1473 35 42.08 1.870 135 2 0 6/74 6/74
ODIs 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
T20s 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
World Cup 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Polly Umrigar Career statistics

Test Debut

India v West Indies at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, December 9, 1948

Last Test

West Indies v India at Sabina Park, Kingston, April 13, 1962

News ON Polly Umrigar

R Ashwin wins Polly Umrigar Award during BCCI Annual Awards 2012-13

All-rounder Ashwin was awarded with Polly Umrigar award for India's best international cricketer of the year.

The kind of generosity Sachin Tendulkar has shown is unheard of in today’s age: Asha Bhosle

Asha Bhosle is known as one of the most versatile singers in the history of Indian singing. But very few people know about her ...

Rahul Dravid attributes success to hard work

Presented the Polly Umrigar Award in recognition of the 1,285 runs with six centuries he made from 15 Tests between October 2010 ...

Ashwin becomes third Indian to take five wickets and score century in same Test

By CricketCountry Staff

 

Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday became the third Indian ...

Dravid wins Polly Umrigar Award for India’s best cricketer of 2010-11

Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid will be bestowed the 'Polly Umrigar Award for India's best cricketer of 2010-11' season during the ...

Rahul Dravid, Ishant Sharma nominated for top BCCI awards

Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid and pacer Ishant Sharma, who were the top Test performers for India on the recent tours to England ...

More News on Polly Umrigar

Features ON Polly Umrigar

    The Q-U-X-Z XI: A brilliant spin attack

    Composing one from the cricketers with their last names starting with the unusual letters Q, U, X and Z, CricketCountry Historian ...

    Indian all-time ethnic XIs part V: Parsees

    The first Indian Test team consisted of two Parsees, Sorabji Colah and Pheroze Palia.

    India and their landmark Tests

    Apart from the change of fortunes and direction of Indian cricket starting from the late 1980s, one can also discover some curiosities ...

    Indian captaincy, a farcical musical chairs – six captains in seven Tests!

    Polly Umrigar. Ghulam Ahmed. Vinoo Mankad. Hemu Adhikari. Datta Gaekwad. Pankaj Roy.

    India’s first Test victory: Madras, 1951-52

    Polly Umrigar set up India's first Test victory with an exquisite 130 not out.

    When Clive Lloyd ordered India’s bloodbath at Jamaica

    The day the Jamaica bloodbath ended. And a new era began.

    More Features on Polly Umrigar


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