Gujarat batter's 28-ball effort is 2nd-fastest in T20s overall
NEW DELHI: At the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a total of 182 players were sold across two days with the 10 franchises spending a whopping Rs 639.15 crore.
The list, however, didn't include the name of Gujarat opening batsman Urvil Patel. A day after the auction, Patel decided to make the franchises regret not picking him.
At the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament - India's premier domestic T20 meet - Patel smashed the fastest-ever T20 century by an Indian batter.
The right-handed opening bat scored a28-ball hundred against Tripura in Indore, breaking the previous record held by Rishabh Pant - a 32-ball ton for Delhi against Himachal Pradesh back in 2018 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here.
Patel eventually hit an unbeaten 113 off 35 balls (7 fours and 12 sixes), helping Gujarat chase down a target of 156 with 58 balls to spare. Patel's ton is also the second-fastest ever in T20 cricket. Estonia's Sahil Chauhan holds the record - he scored a 27-ball century against Cyprus earlier this year.
Patel also has to his credit the second fastest hundred by an Indian in List A cricket. Exactly a year back, Patel hit a 41-ball ton for Gujarat against Arunachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, India's premier 50-over domestic tournament. It was just a ball slower than Yusuf Pathan's 40-ball hundred for Baroda against Maharashtra in 2010.
Patel's name was in the uncapped wicketkeepers list at the auction, but no franchise opted for him even though his base price was just Rs 30 lakh.
Hailing from Mehsana, Baroda, Patel made his debut for Baroda back in 2018 in aT20 against Mumbai in Rajkot. In the same year, he played his first List A match as well. It took him six more years to play first-class cricket when he made his Ranji Trophy debut - this time for Gujarat in 2023-24 edition.
Interestingly, Gujarat Titans picked Patel for a price of Rs 20 lakh for the 2023 IPL season, but he did not get to play a single match.
