Pankaj Roy Biography 
Pankaj Roy was an Indian cricketer who played 43 international test matches for India. He also played 185 first class matches. The right-handed opening batsman for team India, he played for India in the post-independent period in the 1950s. He made a record opening partnership of 413 runs, along with Vinoo Mankad and the world record was broken only in 2008. The opening pair made this world record against New Zealand at Chennai on 11th January 1956. Their record that stood for long 52 years was finally broken by Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie of South Africa against Bangladesh at Chittagong when the opening pair scored 415 runs. Thus they crossed the record by just 2 runs!
He scored 5 test centuries and 9 half centuries and his highest score is 173. He captained team India for one test match against England, but was defeated. For his contributions to Indian cricket and sports Indian government honoured him with Padma Sri. His nephew Ambar Roy and son Pranab Roy too played test cricket for India. He died on 4 February 2001 aged 72, seven years before his world record was broken.
He was born in Kolkata in 1928. Roy’s ancestors were the zamindars of Bhagyakul, present day Bangladesh. His family produced many cricketers from Bengal. He got associated with cricket by playing domestic matches for team Bengal. He scored a century on his first-class debut in 1946-47. He played 185 first class matches scoring 11868 runs with a batting average of 42.38. It includes 33 centuries and 50 half centuries. His highest score is 202 not out. He also took 21 wickets.
He made his international test debut in the year 1951 against England. He played his first match at Delhi and scored only 12 runs. But he managed to score 2 centuries in the series, cementing his position in Indian cricket team. But the following year when Indian team toured England, he failed miserably and India lost the series also.
Published: N/A
Updated: April 03, 2016
