Gujarat wicketkeeper batsman Urvil Patel, who created a new Indian record for the fastest century in T20 cricket, said that he has left behind the sadness of not being selected in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction that ended two days ago, and on Wednesday he Played the natural game. Patel created a new Indian record for the fastest century in T20 cricket by scoring a century in just 28 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Tripura in Indore on Wednesday. However, this aggressive batsman did not find any buyer in the IPL mega auction that ended on Monday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In T20 cricket, Patel broke the Indian record of Rishabh Pant, who had scored a century on 32 balls against Himachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2018. Pant was sold for the most expensive price of Rs 27 crore in the IPL auction. Patel told ‘PTI-Bhasha’, “Every cricketer has a dream to play in the IPL. When I was not selected in the IPL auction, I was sad about it, but I was determined that I would play in the IPL.” “I will never let it affect my performance. That’s why today (Wednesday) I played my natural game.”
He said that when he came on the field against Tripura, he had no idea that he was going to create history. The 26 year old wicketkeeper batsman is emotionally very close to his father Mukesh Patel. Urvil Patel said, “When I came to know that I had made a new record, the first thing I called my father as soon as the match was over and told him that I had scored a century for him.”
He told that his father was a teacher of physical training and wanted to progress in athletics, but due to some reasons he could not progress in this field. Patel said, “My father always wanted me to progress in the field of sports. When I was six-seven years old, my father started making me practice cricket.”
He said, “My father was also a little sad when I did not find any buyer in the IPL auction. Today I was batting remembering my father and my new record is dedicated to him.”
The world record for the fastest century in T20 cricket is in the name of Sahil Chauhan of Estonia who scored a century in 27 balls against Cyprus. Patel has become second in the international list of players who have scored the fastest century in T20 cricket. Patel, who came as an opening batsman against Tripura, scored unbeaten 113 runs in 35 balls which included seven fours and 12 sixes. With his stellar performance, Gujarat achieved the target of 156 runs in just 10.2 overs.
Patel scored 100 runs in 41 balls in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Arunachal Pradesh in Chandigarh on 27 November 2023, which is the second fastest century by an Indian batsman in the format of List-A matches. He laughs and says, “It is still 27th November. You can say that this date is lucky for me.”
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