Kolkata : Maharashtra star and legendary Batter Ankeet Bawane has opened up on getting picked up in Indian Senior Men’s team.
Ankeet Bawane has been consistent run scorer and a big name in Domestic Cricket since his younger days, right from stepping into Maharashtra Cricket back in 2007 and scores piles of runs ranging from 500-600, averaging above 50 in almost every year, although his performances go unnoticed.
He touched the historic feat of scoring 8000 runs for Maharashtra, surpassing Surendra Bhave, & becoming the leading run scorer for the side, on October 21, 2024 against Mumbai.
The 31 years old holds the record of 119 First Class Matches, 8024 runs in 189 innings, with whooping average of 51.43 , including 40 half centuries and 24 centuries, mostly in winning causes.
However, despite all the efforts, his performances go unnoticed by Indian selectors as he was never called up for the Indian Senior Men’s team.
He represented India A, India B, India Blue, India Green, Delhi Capitals, North and West Zone apart from Maharashtra, scoring tons of runs, yet handed disappointment after not getting national call up.
However, upon achieving the feat of 8000 runs, the 31 years old still remains positive on fulfilling his ultimate goal of donning the Indian jersey.
Regarding selection in India team, he said that although feeling disappointed after not getting picked up in the India team after great performances, these things aren’t in his hands. However, he still believes that by performing consistently, which is under his control it will be noticed by selectors. Much thinking about the selection might hamper his performances.
“Those things aren’t in my hand but of course you feel disappointed when you perform so much and you keep proving yourself year by year. It is a dream for everyone to go and play for Indian team and for me as well & when I feel about the selection, that might affect my performance & way I play Cricket. So of course as a player I want to play for Indian team and I hope that performances I put year by year will get noticed by selectors”, Bawane said in an exclusive phone interview with Sportslight Media.
Bawane, took the example of Sarfaraz Khan, who’s been consistent over the years in Domestic Cricket for Mumbai and India A, without getting picked up in Indian team. Upon getting selected he’s been on a terrific run.
Pointing out Sarfaraz as an example, Bawane wanted to highlight the importance of Indian selectors picking players based on Ranji Trophy performances, as it would be great for the Indian team itself.
He said, “In Test Cricket, for example Sarfaraz Khan has been doing for last 4-5 seasons is a pure example of how important the selections are from Ranji Trophy because he’s been great in Ranji Trophy and India A and now he’s playing Test and performing from 1st game. So if they give chance to players performing in Ranji Trophy it will be great for everyone”.
Bawane revealed that his goal is to win Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra. However, he pointed out that if Maharashtra play the knock out stages, he would get chance of getting past 1000 runs mark in the season and would be easier for him to get noticed by the Indian selectors.
Maharashtra, who saw a dip in form since 2015-16 , get disqualified from group stage every year, so Bawane doesn’t get enough games to showcase his talent to full extent and end up scoring 500-600 runs. According to him, if Maharashtra go past next stage, he’ll score more runs, nearly 900-1000 , and earn his maiden call up, as it will be more eye catching to the National selectors.
Bawane, knocking the doors of Indian selectors said, “My goal is to win games and Ranji for Maharashtra. If I play all the games and end up scoring 900-1000 runs it will be a great opportunity for me to represent the country as what happens every year that we don’t qualify and I end my season on 500-600 runs but if I get more number of games I can score 1000 runs mark and selection will be lot easier. If we go all the way I will surely get the cap”.
The 31 years old also acknowledged Maharashtra Cricket upon achieving the historic feat of 8000 FC runs.
He said, “I feel Great, humbled, grateful (on achieving the record) , keep winning games for your team, records do follow. I played my 1st game when I was 15 years Old, credits to Maharashtra Cricket, they gave me the opportunity to play when I was 15. Today at 31 years I played almost 120 games. Credits to Maharashtra Cricket, they believed in me and backed me as a player and captain. When You score FC runs you do so to win and most of my runs have come in winning cause and that is a very good thing for me. “
Bawane, at 31 years old, is a big name in Domestic Cricket and would definitely be a point of discussion in selectors panel in near future owing to his consistency every season.
