Who was the first Indian to score a Test hundred in the West Indies?
(09 April 2002)
Polly Umrigar holds a very special place in Indian cricket.
Before the arrival of Sunil Gavaskar, he held the records for the
most Test runs and most Test centuries by an Indian. In this
context, it might seem surprising that, when India went to the
Carribean for the first time in 1953, not too many people
expected him to do well.
They had their reasons; Polly’s first overseas tour had been an
unmitigated disaster, with him scoring just 43 runs in eight
visits to the crease.
By the second day of the first Test of the Caribbean tour, played
at Port-of-Spain from 21-28 January 1953, however, Umrigar had
done enough to wipe out the memories of his blighted journey to
Old Blighty. His 130, made with the aid of just two fours, was
the innings around which the Indian first-innings total of 417
was built. It also ensured that India played out two of the six
days of the match, a fact that was to prove vital in securing a
draw despite a double ton from West Indian run machine Everton
Weekes.
Umrigar went on to score yet another hundred in the final Test of
the five-match series, which India lost 1-0. His 560 runs at an
average of 62.22 made him the undoubted star as far as the
visitors were concerned.
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