Urvil announces his arrival in blistering fashion

Urvil announces his arrival in blistering fashion

Days after being snubbed at the IPL auction last year, Urvil Patel slammed the second-fastest hundred in T20s, reaching the landmark in 28 balls for Gujarat against Tripura in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) at Indore.

At that time, it seemed the knock might have come a bit late. But four months later, his efforts have finally paid off. After being drafted in by Chennai Super Kings as an injury replacement, the 26-year-old sparkled on IPL debut, smashing an 11-ball 31 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the two-wicket win on Wednesday. His efforts earned him a place in the record books as the Indian with the highest strike rate (281.82, minimum 10 deliveries faced) on debut in the league.

Urvil, who hit the maximum number of sixes (29 in six games) in SMAT last year, showed his prowess on the big stage at the Eden Gardens when he flicked the second ball he faced off Vaibhav Arora into the stands. He followed it up with two more against Moeen Ali and one off Harshit Rana as CSK made the first six overs count, a rarity this season.

The Gujarat ’keeper-batter has an impressive domestic T20 record, scoring 1193 runs at a healthy strike rate of 172.15 from 48 games. Urvil came into the tournament on the back of a productive domestic season and was the highest run-getter for Gujarat in SMAT (315 runs) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (333).

In a year where CSK has been found wanting in the PowerPlay — a major reason for its early elimination — young injury replacements like Urvil, Ayush Mhatre, and Dewald Brevis have reignited hope. Though these are early days, Super Kings have added ammunition to their batting line-up, a good augury for the future.