Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne, the Maharashtrian duo, who stitched together a record partnership of 594 runs in the Ranji Trophy regretted when informed that they were 30 runs short of breaking world record which was previously held by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene of 624 runs.
Gugale, who was leading the team for the first time, had struck his maiden triple-century , 351, which is the seventh highest score in the Ranji Trophy while Bawne's 258 was his first double-century, before declaring at 635 for 2.
"While batting we were not aware of it, but we kept on batting. But we regret that we could not able to break the record, had I known earlier, I wouldn't have declared," Gugale said.
"We were not concerned to make record but we had a plan to keep on playing. Although we are feeling bad that we failed to create world record, yet we are happy to make a new record. I think this is a beautiful day for Maharashtra," Banwe said.
Describing his knock, the 25-year- old said, "I felt tired, my body was not responding as I want it to be. But despite that I went on, because I always knew that if i push harder something will be rewarded."
The duo feels that their knock would act as morale booster for the team which already lost its first match in the series.
Gugale and Bawne batted together for close to 12 hours against Delhi and put on the highest partnership in the Ranji Trophy, surpassing Vijay Hazare and Gul Mohammad's 577 for Baroda against Holkar in the 1946-47 final.
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