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
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 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
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 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
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
All-rounder Ashwin was awarded with Polly Umrigar award for India's best international cricketer of the year.
Asha Bhosle is known as one of the most versatile singers in the history of Indian singing. But very few people know about her ...
Presented the Polly Umrigar Award in recognition of the 1,285 runs with six centuries he made from 15 Tests between October 2010 ...
By CricketCountry Staff
Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday became the third Indian ...
Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid will be bestowed the 'Polly Umrigar Award for India's best cricketer of 2010-11' season during the ...
Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid and pacer Ishant Sharma, who were the top Test performers for India on the recent tours to England ...
Composing one from the cricketers with their last names starting with the unusual letters Q, U, X and Z, CricketCountry Historian ...
The first Indian Test team consisted of two Parsees, Sorabji Colah and Pheroze Palia.
Apart from the change of fortunes and direction of Indian cricket starting from the late 1980s, one can also discover some curiosities ...
Polly Umrigar. Ghulam Ahmed. Vinoo Mankad. Hemu Adhikari. Datta Gaekwad. Pankaj Roy.
Polly Umrigar set up India's first Test victory with an exquisite 130 not out.
The day the Jamaica bloodbath ended. And a new era began.
04 Mar, 2021 09:30 IST
Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
West Indies vs Sri Lanka - 1st T20I
04 Mar, 2021 03:30 IST
Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
West Indies vs Sri Lanka - 2nd T20I
06 Mar, 2021 03:30 IST
Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
West Indies vs Sri Lanka - 3rd T20I
08 Mar, 2021 03:30 IST
Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
New Zealand vs Australia - 5th T20I
07 Mar, 2021 08:30 IST
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui
New Zealand vs Australia - 3rd T20I
03 Mar, 2021 11:30 IST
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
New Zealand vs Australia - 4th T20I
05 Mar, 2021 11:30 IST
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe - 1st Test
02 Mar, 2021 11:30 IST
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe - 2nd Test
10 Mar, 2021 11:30 IST
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
West Indies vs Sri Lanka - 1st ODI
10 Mar, 2021 19:00 IST
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua
West Indies vs Sri Lanka - 2nd ODI
12 Mar, 2021 19:00 IST
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua
West Indies vs Sri Lanka - 3rd ODI
14 Mar, 2021 23:00 IST
Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua
New Zealand vs Australia - 3rd T20I
03 Mar, 2021 11:30 IST | 06:00 GMT
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
04 Mar, 2021 09:30 IST | 04:00 GMT
Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
New Zealand vs Australia - 4th T20I
05 Mar, 2021 11:30 IST | 06:00 GMT
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
New Zealand vs Australia - 5th T20I
07 Mar, 2021 08:30 IST | 03:00 GMT
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui
12 Mar, 2021 19:00 IST | 13:30 GMT
Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
New Zealand vs Australia - 2nd T20I
New Zealand beat Australia by 4 runs
India beat England by 10 wickets
New Zealand vs Australia - 1st T20I
New Zealand beat Australia by 53 runs
India beat England by 317 runs
Pakistan vs South Africa - 3rd T20I
Pakistan beat South Africa by 4 wickets