On 6-7 January 1956, Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy added 413 for India's first wicket against New Zealand at Madras — a world-record opening partnership that would stand for 52 years. Mankad made 231 (then India's highest individual Test score) and Roy 173. The stand allowed India to declare at 537 for 3 and win the match by an innings and 109 runs.
Mankad had originally batted in the middle order but, by 1956, had moved up to open partly because the Indian top-order was thin. Roy, who had endured a torrid 1952 tour of England (five ducks in a series), had rebuilt his game and was a steady opening bat.
After four drawn matches against New Zealand, India were under pressure to win the series. Hazare won the toss, chose to bat first, and the pair walked out at the 11.00am start.
New Zealand were playing their first Test tour of India under captain Harry Cave. After four matches in which India had largely dominated but failed to convert positions into wins, the fifth Test at Madras presented a final opportunity. India's openers, both right-handers from very different backgrounds — Mankad the Gujarati left-arm spinner who had reluctantly come back to opening, Roy the dapper Bengali — walked out together knowing each other's game intimately.
Mankad set off in his usual unhurried manner; Roy played the role of senior partner only after he had survived the early seam of John Hayes and Anthony MacGibbon. The pair batted through the entire first day, all of the second, and into the third. By the close of day two India were 397 for 0. Roy was finally bowled by Matt Poore for 173 after 472 minutes; the partnership was 413, beating the previous opening record of 382 by Bill Ponsford and Bill Woodfull at The Oval in 1934.
Mankad was eventually out for 231, then the highest score by an Indian batter in Tests. Polly Umrigar added 79 not out and Hazare declared at 537 for 3. New Zealand replied with 209 and 219, with Subhash Gupte and Mankad doing the bowling damage. India won by an innings and 109 runs, their second Test victory after Madras 1952 and their first home series win.
Day 1: Openers reach lunch unscathed; tea India 197/0.
Day 1 close: India 251/0 — Mankad 110*, Roy 130*.
Day 2 morning: Both batters pass 150.
Day 2 afternoon: Roy bowled by Poore for 173; partnership 413.
Mankad reaches 231 — Indian Test record.
Hazare declares 537/3.
India win by innings and 109.
6 January 1956
Mankad and Roy open the innings; bat through the day.
7 January
Partnership reaches 413; Roy bowled for 173.
8 January
India declare 537/3.
11 January
India win by innings and 109.
February 2008
Smith-McKenzie 415 finally surpasses the record.
“We just kept batting; there seemed no reason to stop.”
“It was the longest opening partnership I had ever seen at any level.”
Mankad's 231 stood as India's highest Test individual score until Sunil Gavaskar's 236 in 1983. The opening partnership of 413 stood as a Test record for any wicket and any opening combination until February 2008, when Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie added 415 for South Africa against Bangladesh.
India won the series 2-0. Both Mankad and Roy were celebrated; Roy in particular finally laid to rest the ghost of the 1952 ducks.
A masterclass in patient opening play that set a record so durable it survived every challenge for more than half a century. Mankad and Roy combined timing, judgement of line and untiring concentration on a batting wicket against a tired attack.
The 413 stand is one of the longest-standing world records in cricket history. It also remains India's highest opening partnership in Tests until the present day. Mankad and Roy entered Indian cricketing folklore as a duo, often invoked when openers compile big stands.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.