On  Polly Umrigar: my idol in cricket

 

Polly Umrigar was the chief architect who laid the stolid foundation of modern Indian cricket. He had time for every cricketer from the junior-most trainee to the senior-most former player. Nothing in Indian cricket was beyond his knowledge and extreme involvement.              

 

Former Test cricketers have been remarkably unsuccessful as cricket administrators. Only a handful has left behind any worthwhile contribution. Most former cricketers-turned administrators generally fell prey to the machination of the officials they replaced. Transparency, visionary approach, cricketers’ welfare, youth programmes were anathema to them. They merely carried out the age-old policies of their short-sighted predecessors.

 

There were some glorious exceptions, though. But none more convincing than the magnanimous visionary Polly Umrigar. As the BCCI secretary, closeted in his small office at an obscure corner of CCI’s Brabourne Stadium, he thought big, really big. As a serious student of cricket, he was the ultimate servant of the game. To use a cliché, he slept, ate and drank cricket.

 

No, he did not stop at that. It was not oxygen but cricket that he drew in with every breath. What came out from him was all-embracing wisdom: youth coaching camps around the country, national cricket academies training of coaches and umpires, improvements in travel and accommodation for youth teams, awards for different age-groups, efforts to promote cricket in north-east India, welfare schemes for former cricketers.

 

Today when former Test and first-class cricketers are enjoying the benefits of the BCCI pension scheme, little do they realize that the man who made it possible was Polly Umrigar with active assistance from Raj Singh Dungarpur, a former first-class cricketer himself. It is my great fortune that both Polly-kaka and Raj-bhai had imposed a lot of faith in me as they meddled around with the modalities of the intended pension scheme in the 1990s.

 

In the mid-1990s when Polly Umrigar was firmly in the BCCI secretary’s saddle, he conceived the idea of providing pension to former cricketers. He had all the papers and files ready with the budgets, eligibility criteria, mode of payment and other formalities for the BCCI top administrators to see and sign. When I raised an issue concerning cricketers’ widows, Raj Bhai joked, “Raju, does not have me in mind!” (As all are aware, Raj-bhai and his lady-love Lataji never got to marry).

 

The BCCI administrators took eight long years to come to terms to assist people who had helped the country’s cricket to prosper. This too came about with the arrival of Sharad Pawar at the helm. Thankfully BCCI’s full-time administrator, the brilliant Professor Shetty was near at hand to show Pawar, the new BCCI president, the documents that Polly Umrigar had so lovingly prepared and preserved.

 

Unfortunately Polly Umrigar’s magnanimous approach to assist former cricketers was never highlighted in India. Even BCCI presidents, who had kept the files under wraps since the mid-1990s, took credit and shelved the name of the genuine creator from the media and the people. Today every former cricketer should take time to say a short prayer for the soul who made so many families happy. I knew I did not make a mistake in identifying my all-time hero. 

 

No schoolboy fiction was ever conceived without the wide shoulders, the clear-cut features and the booming voice which went on to make the hero’s personality. We had come to believe that such qualities were found only in story books. But in Polly Umrigar’s story, it was no fiction. It was as authentic as the city of Mumbai which had nurtured and nourished him.

 

Christened Pahlan Rattanji Umrigar, the man was a larger than life persona. The imposing frame sheltered a heart still bigger. Never, not even once, did those massive shoulders stoop. Rather, those were strong enough to perpetually carry his peers. His magnanimous presence captivated all and sundry.

 

As a child I had often seen him playing the dour role of saving India from embarrassment. But the first distinct impression that remains was that of a leader harnessing his men to victory. The year was 1961-62; the venue, Eden Gardens and the opposition Ted Dexter’s England (then MCC). Polly Umrigar was not the appointed captain. But in skipper Nari Contractor’s absence, he introduced Ramakant Desai from the High Court end and brought about the downfall of the prolific Ken Barrington. Eden’s hero Desai bounced, Barrington hooked and another Eden hero Durani, at square leg, made the difficult catch look easy.

 

That masterpiece of tactics had the floodgates open and England collapsed giving India her first-ever Test match victory at Eden Gardens. As the dignified figure of Polly Umrigar receded into the pavilion, he walked into the pantheons of cricket history. Never before or after has a deputy captain made such an inspiring move to liven up an almost dead Test match.

 

Later I met him in 1976 when he was a national selector. During the course of the Eden Gardens Test match, he and colleagues wanted to have a look at the Test prospects from East Zone. Very hastily a net session was organized. All the national selectors, except the eastern region representative, turned up as did the potential players. But none bothered to prepare the pitch for the net session to take place!

 

Another selector Kisan Rungta was furious at the callousness of the local cricket administration. Polly Umrigar was shocked and sympathized, “Hope you boys are more fortunate next time.” Later as the BCCI secretary, he took every possible step for the promotion of youth cricket so that no cricket talent would be lost through carelessness. This is the kind of care he took for junior players.

 

After my cricketing days were over, I kept in touch with Polly Kaka. I would write to him very often with proposals and suggestions. Not once did he express any botheration. On the contrary he would write back words of encouragement and discuss cricket issues, which included the pension scheme for former cricketers.

                                                                    

Sir Garfield Sobers was undoubtedly the greatest of all-rounders. He was a rare 3-in-1 all-rounder; a person capable of bowling pace and spin as well as batting. But was he the first of the 3-in-1s? Surely not. That credit, arguably, may be conferred on Polly Umrigar, the most underrated of our sporting heroes. About his batting and off-spinning abilities legends abound, but his medium paced out-swingers and off-cutters did not receive the recognition those deserved.

 

At a time when India did not possess top-class pace bowlers, we had to rely on the incisive medium pacers of this burly all-rounder from Mumbai. Hardly ever he disappointed. On the matting wicket of Bahawalpur in 1954-55 against Pakistan he enjoyed his best spell with the new ball: 58-25-74-6.

 

No Indian cricket addict has quite been able to shed the pangs of recrimination at the way Umrigar was treated by the national selectors and the media. He was a natural leader of men. A man of dominating presence and astute thinking. At the same time, understanding and considerate. He was not the kind to create a halo of impregnability around himself to unnerve the uninitiated. Nor would he have a permanent nod for the powers-that-be. He belonged to neither group and invariably suffered the consequences. For his uncompromising posture, he was our hero.

 

Against Harry Cave’s New Zealand in 1955-56, Umrigar’s India won the series two nil. Next winter he went about consolidating the team as the nucleus was rapidly ageing. But constant changing and chopping did not help to cement the team’s morale against Ian Johnson’s Australia as the series was lost.  But the imposing personality never stooped not even against the marauding West Indies, who had the blistering pace of Wesley Hall and Roy Gilchrist and the genius of Rohan Kanhai and Garfield Sobers. The team, under Umrigar’s leadership, brought off an honorable draw in the first Test at Bombay but the strength of the opposition created an inferiority complex among the players.

 

Umrigar realized the problem soon enough and requested the selectors for a few changes. He wanted courageous men who would fight till the end even for a lost cause. But the selectors refused to yield and Polly Umrigar, the man of high principles, relinquished the captaincy. No Indian captain before or since has shown such sterling qualities of character.

 

However to his eternal credit he never bore grudges nor did he brood himself to frustration. Happily he co-operated with every new captain who replaced him and led India: Ghulam Ahmed, Vinoo Mankad, Hemu Adhikari, DK Gaekwad, Pankaj Roy, GS Ramchand and Nari Contractor.

 

He even willingly served under Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, 15 years his junior, and wholeheartedly supported the young captain in West Indies in 1962. In Pataudi’s Tiger’s Tale’, the unhesitating help of Polly Umrigar has been mentioned. Umrigar played under various captains of very average ability but not once did he show any rancour nor did he ever try to scheme to get his captaincy crown back

 

A grave injustice was done to him by a flippant remark which went on to become an international headline. He had a dismal series in England in 1952. To compound matters it was said that he had backed away from the express deliveries of Freddie Trueman. If that was true then so were many eminent names in international cricket. Did not the Australians fall in a heap against Peter Pollock in South Africa in 1970? Did not the Englishmen draw away from Lillee and Thompson in Australia? There are numerous similar examples. Why was Umrigar singled out?

 

But the fact remains that he went back to England in 1959 and collared Trueman and Harold Rhodes and smashed an innings of 118 at Old Trafford. He took on the mighty Wes Hall in his own backyard with an unbeaten innings of 172. Where were those who had derided the callow youth on his first tour in 1952? He was never media savvy and never cared about what the uninitiated thought of him.

 

Against Fazal Mahmood’s men he had his most successful series ever. He reeled off 3 centuries in 5 Tests. No matter the opposition, no matter the conditions, Umrigar was a man for all seasons. When he retired in 1962 he had a fantastic average of 42.22 with 3631 runs including 12 centuries.

 

As a bowler he never got his due. Overshadowed by the presence of Vinoo Mankad, Ghulam Ahmed and Subhash Gupte, he was always considered to be a second fiddle. Yet when the Aussies capsized against Jasu Patel at Kanpur in 1959, it was Polly Umrigar’s 4 vital wickets, including those Neil Harvey and Norman O’Neil that hastened the disaster. As a fieldsman he was of the top bracket, whether close to or far from the wicket. A safe pair of hands, an unerring throw and an impeccable anticipation was his hallmark.

 

After retirement from active cricket, he was still more active in the service of the game. As coach, manager, administrator he left behind his mark in every sphere and was highly respected by all those who came in contact with him. Deep knowledge and a broad mind gave him a wider vision than usual. Remarkably open to views he would take suggestions even from laymen. Very diligently he studied and then made his recommendations to BCCI. It was primarily because of his initiative that former players, both Test and first-class, are receiving pension from BCCI in recognition of their services to Indian cricket.

 

The modesty of the man was profound. Once I met him at Sunil Banerjee’s place in Calcutta. Polly-kaka had read a piece of mine on him in Sportsworld and thanked me profusely, “Raju, that article of yours pleasantly surprised my family. They thought no one remembered me any more. Next time you come to Mumbai you must have a cup of tea with us.” With his demise, I have lost the man whom I respected the most in Indian cricket.

 

Polly Umrigar’s retirement from cricket as an active player had a unique ring about it. After scores of 56,172 not out, 32 and 60 against Hall, Sobers and Gibbs in 1962 when India was black-washed five-love, Umrigar stood stall and fearless as usual.

 

The great persona decided that he had had enough. People were aghast. They kept asking, “Why?” Polly Umrigar’s classic reply was, “Better now when they are asking ‘why’ than later when they would be asking ‘why not’. Indeed, indeed. What a lesson from a champion sportsman. His action taught us what character was; what wisdom meant.

 

He was without any semblance of doubt the chief architect of modern Indian cricket. From the day of his Test debut at Brabourne Stadium in 1948-49, he stood tall and surveyed the proceedings of Indian cricket in a manner no one had done before or since. His sterling qualities, his visionary approach, his magnanimity are unparalleled. He bridged the pre-War era with the post-independent India as a statesman. On behalf of all Indian cricketers I bow down to him in eternal pranam.