The date was 14 October and time were nearly 4 P.M. when news broke out that the pair of Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawane has eclipsed the record of Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammad of highest partnership in Ranji Trophy. However, they fell short by a margin of just 30 runs by breaking the record of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who shared 624 runs amongst themselves. Captain Swapnil Huge alone scored a total of 351* and was well supported by his partner Ankit Bawane who contributed 258* runs in the mammoth total of 635.
High on hopes Maharashtra declared just 20 minutes before the end of day’s play to get a wicket in the evening so as to put Delhi under pressure. They couldn’t succeed in their aim the same day but got few early wickets next day dismissing two of Delhi’s main batsmen on a score of just 51. Nitish Rana and Dhruv Shorey then steered the team’s way from a total of 51 to 135 before getting out. Delhi was exactly 500 runs behind when the Vice-captain of India U19 Rishabh Pant came out to bat. Pant had a great run in last Ranji game as he scored runs century gains Baroda but this time, the scenario was different as he Delhi was 500 runs behind. Any player would have easily surrendered in front of this mountain total. He started off well scoring run ball half century, a run a ball century followed. Then came the 150, 200, 250 and then boom a 300 was there as well.
Pant had a great run in last Ranji game as he played a monumental innings of 146 in the previous game as well but this time, the scenario was different as Delhi was exactly 500 runs behind the total. Any player would have easily surrendered in front of this mountain total. He started off well scoring run ball half century, a run a ball century followed. Then came the 150, 200, 250 and then boom a 300 was there as well.
He started off well scoring run ball half century, a run a ball century followed. Then came the scores of 150, 200, 250 and then boom! a 300 followed, the second one of the game.
Playing in only his third first-class game, the 19-year-old rookie smashed his first triple century which constituted 42 fours and 9 sixes. Never during his innings, he let the spectators and media person get bored as he was bashing boundaries on regular intervals. He was taking risks whilst batting,calculated risks. He carved out the full value of his dropped catches and went on to score the maiden triple century of his career.
His triple century came in just 320 balls which clearly indicates that no matter the format, he is going to pay his natural game. This innings will go down to the history books as one of the best innings played by Delhi batsman as he is the just second player to score a triple century for Delhi. Along with that, he is also the third youngest player to score a triple century in Indian first-class cricket, Wasim Jaffer and Abhinav Mukund being the other two on the list.
However, despite a triple century from him, Delhi was bundled out on a score of 590, 45 less than what Maharashtra scored. Delhi will just earn 1 point from this game whereas Maharashtra will take home three points.
Still, it was a great game of cricket where a total of 1225 runs were scored on the cost of just 12 wickets (till completion of 2 innings).