India`s Tour of West Indies

Among the few overseas tours where the Indian team faced a lot of humiliation and dishonour, its tour of West Indies in the year of 1962, was definitely one of the most notable ones. The tour saw the ending of Noorie Contractor`s career in a very sad manner and it also saw how the mighty West Indians white washed the Indian team by 5-0, in the Test series. The Indian players miserably failed to play against the West Indies bowlers in the series and the career-ending injury of Noorie Contractor added some more horror to the morale of the players. The only success for India in the series was the brave innings of 172 runs Polly Umrigar that he played against West Indies at Port of Spain.

The sudden injury of Noorie Contractor while playing a ball from Charlie Griffith forced the young and talented player, Tiger Pataudi to take the charge of India`s captaincy. It later proved to be very fruitful for India, as Pataudi is still considered as one of the most successful captains of India. In the Test series against West Indies in 1962, the Indian team was never looking to be in a comfortable position, as they started to fumble in front of the fiery West Indian pace bowling attack, right from the beginning of the tour.

None of the Indian batsmen could show any resistant against the West Indian bowlers and as a result, India went on to lose all the five matches that it played against West Indies in the series. However, the Indians could retrieve their glory few years later, when they won a historical Test series against West Indies in West Indies in the first half of the 1970s.