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Urvil Patel, a rising potential who went unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, dedicated his blistering century to his father and also gave credit to veteran Wriddhiman Saha for helping him improve his wicketkeeping skills.
Urvil and his father Mukesh were left in a state of distraught after no franchise showed interest in acquiring the 26-year-old, and his hopes of making an appearance in the IPL 2025 ended on a bitter note. Urvil, a wicketkeeping opener for Gujarat, has previously had the opportunity to have a crack in the cash-rich league. In 2023, he was picked by Gujarat Titans for his base price of Rs 20 lakh. However, he didn't play in a single match in the entire season and was eventually released from the squad. In the recently concluded auction in Jeddah, Urvil was nowhere to be seen, and his hopes of making an appearance in the IPL 2025 ended on a bitter note. Urvil didn't let his resolve dwindle and fired back in Gujarat's first outing after the auction in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Tripura. He made the most of the opportunity and hammered the second-fastest T20 century in just 28 balls. Urvil fell short of the world record by just a single delivery, set by Estonia's Sahil Chauhan against Cyprus. Urvil returned to the dressing room with an unbeaten 113 in 35 deliveries, which helped Gujarat to chase down the 156-run target in just 10.2 overs. His swashbuckling knock was laced with 12 sixes. Out of a dozen sixes, four of them smoked past the boundary line on successive deliveries against Mandeep Singh. "I told him this hundred was for him (his father). I am very close to my father. He has made a lot of sacrifices for my career. He would wake up at 4 am 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," Urvil told ESPNcricinfo. This wasn't the first time Urvil became a nightmare for the opposition bowlers. A year ago, when GT decided to release him, a day later, he slammed a 41-ball century against Arunachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. His stunning display was the second-quickest List-A hundred by an Indian after Yusuf Pathan's 40-ball century against Baroda in 2010. When quizzed about if there was extra motivation after both occasions, he replied with a smile, "Nothing like that. When you are in the middle, there is so much pressure you don't even remember such things." In the IPL 2023, when he didn't play a single game for GT, he observed the star players from the sidelines. He witnessed Hardik Pandya and Rashid Khan going professionally about their work in the nets and on the field. Emphasising how Wriddhiman Saha stepped in to help him improve his wicketkeeping skills Urvil said, "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." (ANI)
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