Fifty years ago, almost to the day, Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy set a record that over the years achieved iconic status among India’s stats-loving public. It’s only fitting, then, that another Indian pair looks set to break that record tomorrow. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid are 11 runs away from creating history, a double surprise given that they aren’t a regular opening pair, nor were they in form coming in to the match. Though comparisons between the two generations of players is always odious so its best just to look at what Mankad and Roy did against New Zealand in 1955-56. The Kiwis had come to India after a 0-2 series loss against Pakistan. And the fifth and final Madras Test—where Mankad-Roy staged their partnership—saw the Kiwis lose the series by the same margin. Interestingly, Mankad (who scored 231 in that innings) and Roy (173) were also an irregular combination. They opened in the First Test, Mankad opened with Vijay Mehra in the second and Mehra opened with Nari Contractor in the third. Mankad was back as opener for the fourth, with Contractor. The pair were similar to the current duo in one other aspect, the way they complemented each other. Mankad, Contractor recently recalled, was an unorthodox player, Roy technically very correct.
