Polly Umrigar Biography 
Polly Umrigar was an Indian cricketer who played first class cricket and test cricket for Indian cricket team. He passed away on 7th November 2006 at Mumbai. He was a middle-order batsman and occasional bowler who bowled in medium pace and off spin. He captained the Indian team in eight Test matches from 1955 to 1958. When he got retired in 1962, he recorded 12 centuries, more than any Indian player during that time. He scored 3,631 runs from 59 matches played in his career. He is the first Indian to score a double century and he scored his maiden 200 in Test cricket against New Zealand in Hyderabad.
Umrigar was born on 28 March 1926 in Solapur, Maharashtra in a Parsi family. His father was in clothing business. Later the family moved to Mumbai. He took degree from St. Xavier’s, Mumbai. He made his first class debut for Parsi at the age of 18 in the Bombay Pentangular in 1944. He captained the Bombay University team and has also played hockey and football. His 115 not out against West Indies in 1948 a cricket match helped him to gather national attention and a position in 2nd Test against the same team in Mumbai. Very soon, he became a regular player of the team who attended a couple of common wealth games as well. He scored 276 runs in the unofficial Tests against the first team and 562 runs against the second.
He scored only 113 runs in the first four Tests against a weak England side in the home country and very soon he was dropped from the team for the last test. But he was taken instead of injured Hemu Adhikari and he made 130 not out and India won their first ever Test match. It’s the most memorable innings played by him.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 07, 2014
