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Vijay Hazare Trophy: Ankit Bawne spurs Maharashtra over Karnataka

Ankit Bawne hammers a hundred as Maharashtra beat Karnataka by 57 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Ankit Bawne made a hundred in the victory of Maharashtra over Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Bengaluru, September 20: Ankit Bawne and Karnataka. The rivalry resembles a slow burning TV series that requires deep following to understand the full depth of the theme. It's a story that has been played across three states - Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka - over a decade.

The initial friction between them came in 2007 in the less storied surroundings of Ratnagiri. Bawne, a big dreaming 16-year-old débutante against a set of domestic Goliaths. It's a wonderful storyline. In reality, he stood little chance.

R Vinay Kumar, a canny customer with the red ball, snaffled him during a hat-trick effort in the second innings, others being Ajinkya Joshi and Ameya Shrikhande. Karnataka won that match by an innings and 129 runs.

Bawne had a more significant run in against Karnataka in 2013-14 in the Ranji Trophy final at Hyderabad. His twin fifties (89 and 61) failed to prevent Karnataka emerging a seven-wicket winner.

Finally, a winning moment came for Bawne on Thursday (September 20, 2018) at the M Chinnaswamy stadium when Maharahstra beat Karnataka by 57 runs via the VJD method in a rain-marred match. His hundred (104, 115b, 10x4, 1x6) was the difference between Karnataka and Maharasthra on the day in the Vijay Hazare Elite Group A match. He has a personal reason too.

"When you perform well against a big team like Karnataka, you get noticed by all," said Bawne, who has a First-Class average of 53.38 and List A average of 42. Of course, it was not an innings of innovation and improvisation, and we will leave that to Rahul Tripathi (70, 68b, 7x4, 2x6). Tripathi, the Maharashtra captain, did not worry too much about the slowness of the pitch and the variety in Karnataka bowling.

Tripathi took on the bowling. Bawne took the less glamorous route. Perhaps, the right-hander realised that his presence was needed till the end to take Maharashtra to a competitive total. Played the support cast to Tripathi the whole while, Bawne gave vent to his attacking instincts only when Abhimanyu Mithun triggered a mid/late innings collapse dismissing Tripathi. By then, they had added 112 runs for the third wicket.

And from 165/3 to 245, it was a rather solo run from Bawne. From that point, the Maharashtra bowlers took over. Anupam Sanklecha was sharp. Samad Fallah was nippy and swung the ball in to the batsmen. Left-arm spinner Satyajeet Bacchav kept it straight and on a slow track it was tough to get him away.

And when the Maharashtra bowlers were not successful, Karnataka batsmen gifted their wickets via run out and the big fishes too - Karun Nair and CM Gautam. When the match was halted by the second spell of rain well into the noon, Karnataka were 107/6 in 22.2 overs, way off from the VJD par score of 164 at that stage.

Of course, no trophy has been won this evening. It was not even the final round a contest - Bawne and Karnataka will certainly face each other some time. But now, he knows that the big boys can be reined in.

Story first published: Thursday, September 20, 2018, 20:06 [IST]
Other articles published on Sep 20, 2018