A new record has been created at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, where Maharashtra boys Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne recorded the highest partnership in the Ranji Trophy which is considered India’s premier domestic competition. Previously this record was held by Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammed who put up a partnership of 577 runs for Baroda v Holkar in the 1946-47.
Gugale declared the innings at 635/2 at which point he was 351* and Bawne 258*.
They two boys were just 30 runs short of the breaking the world-record in first class cricket set by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene in 2006, but they weren’t aware of it till the runs were declared, and Gugale said he also wanted to put Delhi in for a five overs, which incidentally would have been enough for them break the record.
While talking to the press, Gugale who is leading Maharashtra for the first time said “We weren’t aware of the record. In fact, we found out about it only after we went into the dressing room,”
“Also, our focus was on getting points from this game, it’s not about my 400 or other records. We had a plan that we have to give them a few overs to play and we had a certain amount of time after which we had to declare. Our target was achieved. We had a plan in the morning itself that we have to score 620 odd runs and then give them no matter what the time is.”
When they crossed 540, the two batsmen also beat the previous highest stand for the third wicket in the competition of 539 runs set by Sagar Jogiyani and Ravindra Jadeja for Saurashtra versus Gujarat in 2012.
These are career-best knocks for both batsmen. Gugale’s previous best in 17 first-class matches was 174, while for Bawne it was 172 in 61 appearances.
