Polly Umrigar

Pahlan Ratanji "Polly" Umrigar (28 March 1926 - 7 November 2006) was an Indian cricketer. He played first-class cricket for Bombay, and Test cricket in the Indian cricket team, mainly as a middle-order batsman but also bowling occasional medium pace and off spin. He captain the Indian team in eight Test matches from 1955 to 1958. When he retired in 1962, he had played in more Tests (59), scored more Test runs (3,631), and recorded more Test centuries (12), than any other Indian player. He scored the first double century by an Indian in Test cricket against New Zealand in Hyderabad.

Early life

Polly Umrigar was born in Sholapur, Maharashtra, India, where his father ran a clothing company. His family later moved to Mumbai.

He was a Parsi (from the Zoroastrian community in India) that dominated the Bombay cricket in the early decades of the twentieth century.Cashman, Patrons, Players and the Crowd, p.81. Of the early Test cricketers from Bombay, Dattaram Hindlekar and Janardan Navle were the only Marathi speakers. Others - Sorabji Colah, Jenni Irani, Rustomji Jamshedji, Khershed Meherhomji, Rusi Modi, Phiroze Palia, Vijay Merchant, L. P. Jai and Ramesh Divecha - were all Gujarati Parsees or Gujarati Hindus. He made his first class debut for Parsis at the age of 18 in the Bombay Pentangular in 1944, and studied for a BSc at St Xavier's College in Mumbai. He captained the Bombay University team. He also played hockey and football at a...
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