Mankad and Roy hold opening record partnership for 52 years!

by A.C. de Silva

CRICKET; The Australians, Englishmen, the Indians and New Zealanders dominated the cricket scene in the good old days and cricketers from Asia didn't have a look in. Came the India - New Zealand series and that series was played in 1955-56 in India.

The latter series came at a critical time when Indian batsman Pankaj Roy started using spectacles. There was lot of criticism about the performance of Roy and that he not seeing the ball properly, But Roy, being a batsman who never gives up, succeeded in silencing the critics.

H.B. Cave led New Zealand in that series. The team included two outstanding players - the best left-handed opening batsman at that time - Bert Sutcliffe and the best off-spin bowler of those days - John Reid, who later became the skipper of the team. Reid was a hard-hitting batsman, and a very good fielder, too.

This was a series that Roy remembers very well as he was thrown out of the national side and then called back. The second Test was played at Hyderabad on November 19.

Due to late monsoon no cricket pitch could be prepared at Calcutta. There was no indoor coaching centre. So, Roy came to Hyderabad without any practice. He was using specs for the first time. Not surprisingly his performance in the first Test was poor.

He was dropped from the Test squad. Roy's career was at the cross roads. But the sacking from the national side came as a boon. The second Test began on December 2 that year in Bombay within seven days of the completion of the first.

He returned to Calcutta with the determination to fight his way back into the side and worked hard towards his goal.

Good news came to Roy when he was recalled to the team for the Calcutta Test, not as a opening batsman but as a one-down bat and automatically got picked for the final Test.

He was installed in the position of an opener in Madras. Roy was determined to prove his worth and he did it. He got some useful tips from late Vijay Merchant and after seeing an eye-specialist Dr. Aloke Gosh who was also a cricketer and rectified the disability issue.

The Calcutta Test way drawn. Though India were leading the series 1-0 with victory in the Hyderabad Test, the final Test was at Madras.

Besides Roy, there was another batting star in Vinoo Mankad who was also anxious to show what a good player he was.

Vinoo Mankad had no settled position in the order. He could and in fact, he did bat at all spots from number one to eleven which itself was a world record in Test cricket. At 39 years, Mankad was at his peak - an age at which most cricketers bow out of the game but at that age, he wrote himself among the Test records in a partnership that still remains intact unsurpassed for nearly 53 years.

That memorable Test was in Madras against the Kiwis. Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad hoisted 413 runs in 472 minutes for the first wicket. Vinoo Mankad's contribution was 231 and Pankaj Roy made 173 and he was the batsman to get out bowled by Kiwi bowler Poore and the partnership was finally broken.

On two previous occasions, opening pairs came close - Simpson and Lawry put on 382 for Australia against West Indies and Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis put on 387 against West Indies. But after 45 years, 413 still stands as the best opening stand.

Vinoo Mankad and Roy broke the previous record of 359 by Englishmen Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook at Johannesburg in the 1948-49 Test series against South Africa. The Indians passed two landmarks the 400-run mark and Mankad's double century.

The score of 231 made by Vinoo Mankad remained the highest Test score by an Indian until it was overtaken by Sunil Gavaskar in the final Test against the West Indies at the same venue after a lapse of 28 years. For the record-breaking opening partnership of 413 runs, both Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad were duly rewarded by the then steering committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. They were also presented with one stump each used in the memorable test win as souvenirs.

The record - breaking fifth Test in Madras as far as the Indians were concerned. India won by innings and 109 runs.

INDIA: 537 for 3 wkts dec Vinoo Mankad 231 not out Pankaj Roy 173, Polly Umrigar 79 not out)

NEW ZEALAND: 209 (S. Gupte 5 for 72, Patel 3 for 63) and 219 (Mankad four wickets, Gupte five wickets).