Every once in a while, people have days when Lady Luck smiles at you and decides to give you a great day. For Maharashtra’s Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne, it was Friday the 14th.
Wankhede Stadium on Friday, witnessed records being shattered one after another by the Maharashtra duo in the Ranji Trophy. After starting the day on 290 for 2, their plan was simple – see through the first hour and then take advantage of the helpful conditions. Meanwhile, Delhi’s bowlers were getting tired and then lead pacer Navdeep Sani got injured, it only helped Bawne and Gugale to cash it all in.
They proceeded to put up a partnership of 594 runs before declaring their innings at 635 for 2, not wanting to push their luck any further. ‘Post lunch we knew they were one bowler short. And since there was very little assistance for the bowlers after that, we decided to take full advantage and go after the bowlers’ said Gugale in an interview later on.
The decision to declare came after Gugale reached the 350 run mark, while Bawne had already crossed 258 by then. What was really bizarre and weird was the fact that the two were only 30 runs short of breaking the first class record for the highest partnership for any wicket. A record which has been held by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene where they managed a total of 624 runs vs. the Proteas.
Unfortunately for the two, reports indicate that cricket fans and statisticians were not sitting in the newsrooms and the dressing rooms and as a result the record still stands. Gugale himself had no idea, ‘I wasn’t aware of the record. If I had known about it we would have gone for it. With six-seven overs left in the day and only 30 runs needed, we would’ve continued playing.’
He further added that ‘”During the tea break, we were told that we were very close to (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Sagar) Jogiyani’s record (of the highest partnership in Ranji Trophy). We went for that.’ However other than the record put up by the Sri Lankans, Gugale managed to break all sorts of other records. Apart from being the highest partnership in Ranji Trophy history, the Maharastra captainas 351 was the highest score by any player on his captaincy debut, second only to Bill Ponsford’s 429. He also managed to become the second highest score by a Maharastra batsman, third highest by a captain in the Ranji Trophy and seventh highest as a player in the tournament’s history. Not bad, considering the record they did miss out on.
‘I broke almost all Maharashtra batting records and I’m extremely proud of that’ said the 25 year old, who has no regrets and hasnat let the fact that he and Bawane probably could have broken what is a record that has stood for 10 years so far, but instead decided to celebrate the other achievements instead..
