After Ankit Bawne and Swapnil Gugale scored a record Ranji Trophy partnership against Delhi yesterday, Ankit’s father Ramdas related an incident when his son, who was just 12 years, refused to visit Agra because of a cricket match back home in Aurangabad the very next day
Ankit Bawane and his father Ramdas
After Ankit Bawane and Swapnil Gugale scored a record Ranji Trophy partnership against Delhi at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday, Ankit’s father Ramdas was a proud dad and related an interesting incident when his son, who was just 12 years that time, refused take to the sights in Agra, because of a cricket match back home in Aurangabad the very next day.
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“I still remember in 2005 when he was just 12-years-old. He went to Agra to represent the Maharashtra School team in the under-16 Nationals. It was for the first time he was traveling alone and being a 12-year-old kid, we too decided to accompany him. I had reserved our return tickets after the final match. But Maharashtra lost in the quarters and we had two days at our disposal.
“So we decided to visit the nearby places. But Ankit strongly refused and forced us to return to Aurangabad on the same day as he wanted to play in an inter-school Gadiya Trophy match. I had to cancel our reservations and we returned home in an unreserved boggy. It was quite a hectic journey. The next day he played his inter-school match and won the man of the series award for the first time,” Bawane senior said.
Interestingly, Ramdas avoids seeing his own son play during a match, but when he heard that Ankit was on his way to score a double ton, he immediately decided to make a dash to Mumbai. But as fate had it, his work prevented him. “Generally I avoid being present at the stadium when Ankit is playing. But yesterday (on Thursday), when he was unbeaten on 120, I spoke to him and decided to leave for Mumbai to watch him register his double ton. But due to some urgency in my office, I couldn’t be present. I missed this to watch Ankit and Swapnil (Gugale) create history,” he explained.
While elaborating innings, Ankit said he was always eager to score a century at the Wankhede. And now that he has done, he is determined to make it to the Indian team.
“This double ton is something very special for me. I had to out on scoring a century at the Wankhede three times miss while playing against Mumbai. The first time I got out on 91 in an under-15 match. The second time, I remained not out on 97 when we beat Mumbai in a one-dayer. And the third time I scored 84 in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal win over Mumbai here (in 2014). So I was eager to cross this three-figure mark. I thought I had achieved one of my goals after registering a ton here,” Ankit concluded.
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