Longest net session: City cricketer breaks Guinness record of English duo
City-based circketer Virag Mare broke the Guinness record of longest individual net session of 48 hours set by English duo, Dave Newman and Richard Wells, and established a two-hour lead to set a new benchmark on Thursday.
Playing at the Mahalaxmi Lawns in Karve Nagar, Mare started playing at 9.30 am on December 22. To complete the record, he was supposed to bat a little beyond 9.30 am on December 24. However, Mare went ahead and batted for 50 hours, completing his long lasting wish of establishing his name in the cricket fraternity.
“I don’t have words to express my emotions. The reason why I am able to talk merely 2-3 hours after I broke the record because I love this game. I had worked really hard to fulfill this dream,” he said. There was a point after 27 hours, when Mare felt weak and thought of giving up the idea, however, when he saw his father who had come from Latur to support him, he felt motivated. Mare completed the record at 11.30 am, finishing 50 hours, five minutes and 51 seconds, facing 2,447 overs, i.e. 14,682 balls. “We had thought of crossing the 15,000 balls mark. But he was already very tired. It would’ve been wrong to stretch him beyond his limit,” said Ramdas Potale, his friend and organiser of the event. Mare will now send the evidence captured in the DVD to the global headquarters of Guinness in London. “Usually, it takes two months for Guinness to validate the record,” he said.
