4 min readOct 11, 2026 11:00 PM IST
Ankit Bawne was 15, from Aurangabad, a city since renamed, when he scored 11 centuries in 12 innings at the MCA Invitational U-15 league. He had never had professional coaching and had learned the craft from television. Two double-centuries and as many centuries in the Polly Umrigar Trophy followed. The BCCI’s MA Chidambaram award for India’s best Under-15 cricketer was his.
That was 19 years ago. On Sunday, at Palam, Bawne made an unbeaten 105 off 232 deliveries on the first day of Maharashtra’s Ranji Trophy opener against Services. It was his 25th First-Class century, after a season in which he scored 72 runs at an average of 10.28. Maharashtra closed the day on 287/5, with Arjun Sharma taking 3/74 for Services.
Nineteen years can look like stability or like stagnation. When this newspaper put the 19 years to him, minutes after the hundred, he fell quiet.
“When you put it that way, it does feel that I have been here for a long time,” he says. “Perhaps, I actually have. I am nearing 15,000 runs in domestic cricket. I am nearing 20 years in the circuit. It has actually been a long career. But honestly, I have never felt that way because I have always taken it one game at a time.”
The hundred came on a pitch of uneven pace and bounce.
“Emotions are running here. Firstly, because it is a Ranji hundred, which is always special. But this is also my 25th First-Class century. Moreover, I had a point to prove this season. I did absolutely nothing last season. I did not even score 100 runs in the entire season. Mera bat dhool kha raha tha (my bat was collecting dirt). I made it a point that regardless of what happens, regardless of how the pitch and conditions are, I will score a hundred today. I had manifested this moment.”
There was an unbeaten 162 for India A against a New Zealand A featuring Lockie Ferguson and Ish Sodhi, in 2017. A year later came an unbeaten 91 against Australia A, followed by the captaincy of the side against the England Lions. India won that List A series 4-1. Bawne, it seemed, was knocking at the selectors’ door.
Story continues below this ad
The knocks went unanswered. That, though, has not stopped him from dreaming.
“The hunger I have at 34 is the same that I had at 15. If a Paras Dogra can lead a team to Ranji Trophy title at the age of 41, then why can’t an Ankit Bawne dream of playing for India at 34? If I score 1200 runs in this Ranji season, who’s going to stop me from getting noticed by the BCCI selectors? The way I look at it, I always tell myself an opportunity can come at any given moment. If I think that I have played for nearly 20 years and still I never made it to the national team, I won’t have the motivation to keep fighting.”
As he reached his hundred, Bawne raised his bat towards the dugout. It was a message, though not one of disdain.
“I didn’t do it in a rude way. It was just to convey a message, that I am still playing, still performing, still alive.”
On Sunday, he was alive.
Story continues below this ad
Brief Scores: Maharashtra 287/5 (Ankit Bawne 105 not out; Arjun Sharma 3/74) vs Services.
