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          Urvil Patel waits for big break after smashing Pant's record

          Urvil Patel smashed second fastest List A ton by an Indian GCA
          • Hemant Brar
          Nov 29, 2024, 01:23 PM

          Urvil Patel's father, Mukesh, was more disheartened than his son when he went unsold at the recent IPL 2025 mega auction.

          In his younger days, Patel senior was a university-level sprinter. But the lack of resources and guidance meant he had to give up on his ambitions and settle for the job of a physical education teacher at a government school. Since then, his dream has been to see his son excel in a sport at the highest level.

          Urvil, a wicketkeeper-opener from Gujarat, has been part of the IPL previously. At the 2023 auction, Gujarat Titans (GT) bought him at his base price of INR 20 lakh. But he did not get to play and was released after the season. This time, his name did not even come up. His father's disappointment, therefore, was understandable.

          Urvil, too, was upset. But he did not let it affect his game. In Gujarat's first outing after the auction, against Tripura in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Urvil smashed the second-fastest hundred in T20 cricket, off just 28 balls. It was the fastest by an Indian, bettering Rishabh Pant's record against Himachal Pradesh by four balls, and just one shy of the world record, set by Sahil Chauhan for Estonia against Cyprus.

          Urvil's 113 not out in 35 balls helped Gujarat chase down their target of 156 in just 10.2 overs. His innings featured 12 sixes, four of them off successive balls against Mandeep Singh's part-time all-sorts spin.

          After the match, he called his father. "I told him this hundred was for him," Urvil tells ESPNcricinfo. "I am very close to my father. He has made a lot of sacrifices for my career. He would wake up at 4am to take me for the practice. He used to give tuition to class 11 and 12 students; he stopped that to give me more time."

          This was not the first time Urvil did something extraordinary after a setback. Exactly a year ago, a day after being released by GT, he had smashed a 41-ball hundred against Arunachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. It was the second-fastest List A hundred by an Indian, behind Yusuf Pathan's 40-ball effort for Baroda against Maharashtra in 2010.

          Was there extra motivation to prove a point on both occasions?

          "Nothing like that," he says with a smile. "When you are in the middle, there is so much pressure you don't even remember such things."

          It is true that both knocks came against weaker oppositions. But Urvil can take apart even the best bowling attacks on his day. In the next two games after his hundred against Arunachal Pradesh, he scored 86 in 83 balls against Uttar Pradesh and 116 in 93 against Himachal Pradesh.

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          Urvil was born in Vadnagar but started his cricket in Palanpur, a northern Gujarat city known for its diamonds. Under the coaching of Prakash Patani, he polished his talent and has emerged as the brightest gem from the region.

          He made his T20 debut for Baroda, in 2017-18, and scored 50 in 28 balls against Mumbai. But after just one season with them, he decided to move to Gujarat.

          "There was nothing wrong at Baroda," Urvil says. "I just felt I would get more opportunities with Gujarat. At the same time, I was aware I needed to perform."

          So far, he has played 45 T20s and has scored 1014 runs at a strike rate of 161.72. His numbers in List A cricket are equally impressive: 415 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 111.26. Though he has also played six first-class games, his priority remains white-ball cricket: "Power-hitting comes naturally to me."

          Apart from that, Urvil's big strength is his self-belief. "T20 is such a format that you have to take risks. The most important thing then is to stay calm and back yourself."

          While he did not play a game at IPL 2023, he picked up valuable lessons from everything around him. He observed how professionally Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan went about their work, both in the nets and on the field. The technical inputs - about wicketkeeping - came from Wriddhiman Saha.

          "I got to spend a lot of time with Wriddhi bhai. He made me aware of the areas I could improve in. We discussed about the movement behind the stumps, which really helped me."

          Whenever he needs extra motivation, he recalls why he started playing cricket: for his father. His ultimate dream, like any budding cricketer, is to represent India, but he is not looking too far ahead.

          "My goal is always to take one step forward from where I am today. For that, whatever runs I need to score, I need to score. Whatever skills I need to upgrade, I need to upgrade."