Who is Urvil Patel, the Gujarat opener who blasted a 31-ball century?

Gujarat’s Urvil Patel delivered one of the standout T20 knocks of the season, smashing an unbeaten 119 off just 37 balls to power his team to an eight-wicket win over Services in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Gymkhana Ground on Wednesday.

Opening the chase with aggressive intent, the Gujarat skipper tore into the opposition attack from the outset. He crossed the hundred mark in only 31 balls — placing him among the fastest century-makers in the tournament’s history. His whirlwind innings featured 12 fours and 10 sixes, effectively sealing the match long before the chase reached its halfway mark.

Patel is no stranger to explosive milestones. In 2024, he hammered a 28-ball hundred against Tripura in Indore — the fastest T20 century by an Indian at the time. Only Abhishek Sharma matches him on that list, having also scored a 28-ball ton for Punjab against Meghalaya in Rajkot in 2024.

All about Urvil Patel

Urvil Patel is a batsman who plays for Gujarat and was earlier been part of the Gujarat Titans squad in IPL 2023 . However he made his IPL debut only in 2025 with Chennai Super Kings. CSK brought him in as a replacement for the injured Vansh Bedi for Rs 30 lakh.
He was retained by CSK ahead of the mini-auction recently though he was gone unsold in the mega auction earlier this year.

Across his three IPL 2025 appearances, Patel accumulated 68 runs at a blazing strike rate of 212.50, though one of his outings resulted in a two-ball duck.

Patel hogged the limelights earlier after he smashed 29 sixes in six innings during the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy , where he also struck a 28-ball century — then the joint second-fastest hundred in T20 cricket. In 2024-25 SMAT campaign, he had scored 315 runs in six innings at an average of 78.75 and a strike rate of nearly 230.