PANAJI: When Snehal Kauthankar and Kashyap Bakle of Goa marched into the dressing room during the lunch break after putting up 577 runs for the third wicket against Arunachal, the two were told that they were just 18 runs short of the highest partnership of all time Ranji Trophy Story.
Kauthankar had hit a triple century while Kashyap, playing only his second Ranji game, was unbeaten on 280.
At the resumption, the duo surpassed Maharashtra's Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawne's record of 594. The academy ground in Porvorim erupted in joy. The two had struck up a 606-run partnership with Kashyap also hitting a triple ton, Goa captain Darshan Misal said. It was only later that Misal realized that the duo was just 19 runs short of a first-class world record.
“We came to know about the world record after we announced our innings,” Kauthankar told TOI. “Nobody knew about it, otherwise we would certainly have chosen this record (also).”
The highest partnership in first-class cricket is the 624 runs scored by Sri Lankan pair Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene during a Test match against South Africa at home in 2006.
“We don’t regret not achieving the world record. We are very proud of our achievement. More importantly, we are promoted to the elite group now,” said the veteran Goan batsman, who scored 250 in the last game against Mizoram.
Goa plays in the Plate group, which includes six of the lowest-ranked teams. Until last season, Goa was in the elite category but was relegated after finishing at the bottom of the group. This season they were group winners and qualified by winning all five games. In contrast, Arunachal Pradesh lost all five matches, the one in Goa in less than two days.
After defeating Arunachal by 84 in the first innings, Goa declared their innings at 727-2 with Kauthankar (314* off 215 balls) and Bakle (300* off 269 balls) forming a record partnership for the third wicket. Arunachal's second innings ended with 92 in 22.3 overs, giving Goa an innings victory by 551 runs, a Ranji record.
Goa's 727-2 was their highest score in the premier domestic cricket tournament, but fell well short of the Ranji Trophy record. That's part of it Tamil Nadu who declared their innings with a massive score of 912-6, incidentally against Goa in Panaji in 1989.
In this match, WV Raman and Arjun Kripal Singh of Tamil Nadu had scored 313 and 302 runs, the first time that two batters scored three centuries.
BRIEF RESULTS: Arunachal lost by 84 (Nabam Tagan Abo 25, Neelam Obi 22; Arjun Tendulkar 5-25, Mohit Redkar 3-15) & 92 (Nabam 31) Lakshay Garg 4-43, Deepraj Gaonkar 2-15, Keith 2-25) against Goa 727-2 (Snehal Kauthankar 314*, Kashyap Bakle 300*, Suyash Prabhudessai 73).
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