Ankit Bawne suspended for one match after controversial dismissal from Ranji Trophy 2024-25.
Maharashtra batsman Ankit Bawne has been handed a one-match suspension for dissent during a group match against Services in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25. As a result, Bawne had to sit out Maharashtra’s Group A match against Baroda, which started on January 23 in Nashik.
Ankit Bawne’s suspension was announced ahead of Maharashtra’s Group A match against Baroda in the ongoing 2024-25 Ranji Trophy. The incident took place in Maharashtra’s fifth round match against Services, where the 32-year-old was the stand-in captain in the absence of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Ankit Bawne’s dissent leads to one-match suspension from 2024-25 Ranji Trophy.
The right-handed batsman refused to leave the field after being dismissed by the umpires. Controversy erupted when Bawne was dismissed despite there being clear evidence that the ball had bounced before Shubham Rohilla caught the ball at slip off the bowling of Amit Shukla.
With no Decision Review System (DRS) available as the match was broadcast live and not televised, Ankit Bawne was unable to review the decision but remained at the crease for nearly 15 minutes, leading to the match being postponed and now a suspension from one match for the Maharashtra batsman in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25.
The situation escalated and match referee Amit Sharma and Maharashtra coach Sulakshan Kulkarni had to intervene to bring peace to the field in November last year.
Stand-in captain Ankit Bawne had to leave the field after playing a brilliant knock of 73 runs off 104 balls studded with eight boundaries and one maximum in the first innings against Services.
Sulakshan Kulkarni criticizes poor umpiring standards in domestic cricket
Ankit Bawne was more dangerous in the second innings, playing a blistering knock of an unbeaten 94 off 203 balls with six boundaries to help Maharashtra chase down a target of 339 runs as they beat the services by 35 runs in Group A. match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
After the incident, Maharashtra coach Sulakshan Kulkarni criticized the poor standards of officiating in domestic cricket. He wondered why players face penalties but referees do not face any penalties despite making mistakes time and again.
Lending his support to Ankit Bawne, Kulkarni emphasized that the players’ frustration over such mistakes is justified.
Sulakshan Kulkarni stated, “Players are subject to fines and reprimands. What about the proper judgment of the judges? Why do the same erring judges continue to judge and play booty? When there are mistakes of this nature, anger is justified.”
There is no playoff hope for Maharashtra this Ranji season
At the time, Maharashtra’s full-time captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who played for India A in Australia during that 2024-25 Ranji Trophy match, shared replays of Bawne’s dismissal to express his frustration at the poor officiating in the Ranji Trophy.
Namely, Maharashtra is currently the penultimate team in the points table of Group A with only 8 points from 5 matches so far in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024-25. Now they have no chance of reaching the Ranji Trophy 2204-25 playoffs.
Group A top-seeded Baroda, second-placed Jammu and Kashmir and third-placed Mumbai have the best chances of advancing to the final stage of the ongoing first-class tournament.
