File photo of Gujarat's Urvil Patel. (Image: X)
Gujarat's wicketkeeper-batter Urvil Patel slammed a 28-ball century against Tripura in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Wednesday (27 November). It is the second fastest T20 century in history. The fastest T20 century came from the bat of Estonia's
Sahil Chauhan
when he took 27 balls to bring up a ton against Cyprus earlier this year.
Patel, who had gone unsold at the IPL 2025 Auction, smacked seven fours and 12 sixes to notch up his hundred. He remained unbeaten on 113 from 35 balls at the end of the 20 overs as Gujarat reached a huge 156 run total.
Opening the innings alongside Aarya Desai, the 26-year-old Urvil stood out for his blistering hitting. Staggeringly, all of his runs towards the century came from boundaries - 28 in fours and 72 in sixes.
Besides the boundaries, Urvil took 11 singles and a double to ensure he kept the score ticking and the bowlers busy. In the end, he wasn't able to score on just four balls.
In first-class (FC) cricket, Patel has played six matches and accumulated 158 runs with a highest score of 60, maintaining a batting average of 14.36. His first-class record includes one half-century.
In T20 cricket, he has played 43 matches and amassed 875 runs, with a top score of 96, and an average of 20.83. His strike rate in the shortest format is a remarkable 154.32, with four half-centuries to his name. Coming into it, he had struck 115 boundaries and 26 sixes.
Fastest centuries in T20 cricket:
27 balls - Sahil Chauhan (Estonia vs Cyprus in 2024)
28 balls - Urvil Patel (Gujarat vs Tripura in 2024)
30 balls - Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Pune Warriors in 2013)
32 balls - Rishabh Pant (Delhi vs Himachal Pradesh in 2018)
33 balls - W Lubbe (North West vs Limpopo in 2018)
33 balls - Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (Namibia vs Nepal in 2024)
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