Pankaj Roy

Pankaj Roy (31 May 1928 - 4 February 2001) was an Indian cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman, he is best known for establishing the world record opening partnership of 413 runs, together with Vinoo Mankad, against New Zealand at Chennai. The record stood until 2008. He was honoured with the Padma Shri. His nephew Ambar Roy and son Pranab Roy also played Test cricket for India.

First class career

Roy played domestic cricket in India for Bengal. He scored a century on his first-class debut in 1946-47 and went on to score 33 hundreds, scoring a total of 11868 first class runs at 42.38.

Test career

When England toured India in 1951, Roy was selected for the Indian squad and made his Test debut at Delhi. Despite making just 12 in his debut innings he scored 2 centuries in the series. The following summer he toured England and had a contrasting series, making 5 ducks in his 7 innings, including Frank Tyson's debut first class wicket. This tally included a pair at Old Trafford. He would hit five Test centuries for India, with a top score of 173.

He captained India in a Test match in England in 1959, which India lost.






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