MUMBAI: History has been made at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, where the Maharashtra’s Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne rewrote record books and came very close to erasing Sri Lankan legends Mahela Jayawardene-Kumar Sangakkara’s world mark in the Ranji Trophy match on Friday.
Opener Gugale – in his first match as captain of Maharashtra – and No 4 Bawne added an unbeaten 594 against Delhi in their second round fixture of the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy. Their stand for the third wicket has eclipsed the long-standing record of 577, set by Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammed for Baroda v Holkar in the 1946-47 season.
It is also the second-highest association in all first-class cricket, behind only the 624 that Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene added in a Test match against South Africa. Before today, the 580 that Rafatullah Mohmand and Aamer Sajjad added for WAPDA against Sui Southern Gas Corporation in Pakistan’s domestic cricket was the second highest.
The duo could have carried on but the 25-year-old Gugale put team before personal milestones as he declared the innings at 635/2 in 173 overs.
The 2nd wicket had fallen at 41 in 8.1 overs. At stumps on first day yesterday (October 13), Gugale was batting on 152 and Bawne on 120. Maharashtra were 290/2 in 90 overs.
Both Gugale and Bawne registered their highest first-class scores. In his previous 17 games, Gugale’s top score was 174 while Bawne’s previous best was 172 in 61 matches.
Source: Agencies
