2016-17 Ranji Trophy- Round 2: Top 5 performers

Ishwar Pandey — Ishwar called the right shots by picking up an 8-wicket haul in the first innings

**#3 Swapnil Gugale (351) and Ankit Bawane (258)**

It will be unfair to include just one name out of Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawane in the list. The Maharashtra batsmen were the talk of the town for the last couple of days. They put on an unbeaten 594 run partnership for the third wicket against Delhi at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.

This is the highest partnership for any wicket in the Ranji Trophy, overtaking the 577 run partnership between Gul Mohammad and Vijay Hazare in 1946-47. They also overtook the highest partnership in any first-class game (sans international cricket) when they overtook Pakistani pair Rafatullah Mohammad and Aamer Sajjad's 580 runs.

They missed out on overtaking Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara’s 624-run stand, which is the highest in FC cricket.

Gugale remained unbeaten on 351 while Bawane scored 258 when the former declared the innings at 635-2. Later in the match, Maharashtra survived a scare when Rishabh Pant’s 308 threatened to get Delhi 3 points on the virtue of taking the first-innings lead. But, Gugale’s men somehow managed to get the three points after dismissing Delhi for 590, four less than the record partnership between Gugale and Bawane.