As many as Rs 639.15 crore were spent in two days at the IPL mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25. But none was spent on Gujarat batter Urvil Patel who has smashed the fastest-ever T20 century by an Indian player in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Interestingly, he broke the most expensive player at the mega auction, Rishabh Pant’s record in this aspect.
Urvil smashed a century in just 28 balls against Tripura helping his side chase down 156 runs in just 10.2 overs. He remained unbeaten on 113 runs off just 35 deliveries at a strike rate of 322.85 with seven fours and 12 sixes to his name. This is the fastest century in the shortest format by an Indian across all T20 matches played in history.
Pant held the record earlier having hit a century in just 32 deliveries while playing for Delhi against Himachal Pradesh back in 2018. The southpaw had then smashed 116* runs off just 38 balls with eight fours and 12 maximums.
Coming back to Urvil Patel, he was among the shortlisted players at the IPL auction but his name never came up under the hammer even in multiple accelerated rounds even as teams looked to make up their squads in the end. Within a couple of days after the event, the man made the headlines by coincidentally breaking the record of the most expensive player.
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Urvil was with Gujarat Titans for a couple of IPL editions in 2022 and 2023 but didn’t get a chance to showcase his skills. However, after his latest heroics, he will be on the radar of certain franchises to pick as an injury replacement. As far as his T20 career is concerned, Urvil has scored 978 runs in 44 innings at a strike rate over 150 with four fifties and the lone century coming today against Tripura.
