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[caption id="attachment_24535" align="alignnone" width="853"] I was not aware of the record: Swapnil Gugale | Twitter @MumbaiNews[/caption]

Kolkata: Records are meant to be broken. But for Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne, they were not aware of the world record set by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawerdene. The Sri Lankan legends put on a partnership of 624 runs in the first test match against South Africa in 2006 at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground. Gugale, captaining Maharashtra for the first time set an example by giving importance to team rather than personal milestone. As they walked back to the pavilion the scoreboard reflected a partnership of 594* runs for the third wicket, which meant they were tantalisingly short of creating the world record by only 30 runs.

“I was not aware of the record at the crease. It would have been nice to achieve that. But as a captain I was more concerned about declaring the innings. I know records are meant to be broken and I am told that we had broken the previous record set by Ghulam Mohammed and Vijay Hazare. We would have definitely given it a thought had we were aware about the milestone,” said Gugale over the phone from Mumbai.

Gugale further added, “Now when I look back I regret having lost an opportunity to achieve that milestone. I was thinking about putting Delhi into bat again and perhaps getting a few early breakthroughs. Now when my friends, teammates and well wishers are continuously reminding me about missing the world record, I feel sad.”

Gugale’s partner Ankit Bawne, who shared the record partnership, also shared the same feeling as his captain. According to Bawne, “We were planning to have a go at the Delhi batsmen as we had a considerable lead in the match. At the same time we thought about putting up a good show in front of the national selectors.”

Another interesting fact is Virender Sehwag who Gugale look up to as a role model missed a world record partnership when he and Rahul Dravid fell short by 3 runs. Later Sehwag regretted that they were not aware of the world record. The previous highest partnership was held by Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad when they put on 413 runs against New Zealand at Chennai in 1956.

Gugale struck a magnificent 351* (521 balls, 37×4, 5×6) while Bawne remained undefeated on 258* (500 balls, 18×4, 2×6) against Delhi on the second day of their Ranji Trophy tie at Wankhede stadium.

It was Gugale’s third century in first class cricket. For Bawne, it was his 14^th test century in first class cricket.

This is the highest ever partnership for any wicket in the tournament’s history (Previous best – 577 between Vijay Hazare (288) and Gulam Mohammed (319) for Baroda Vs Holkar in 1947. Gugale-Bawne broke the 69-year-old record. 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 was 290/2 in 90 overs.