Urvil Patel has arrived at last. After showing promise in domestic cricket for Gujarat, the Chennai Super Kings batsman scored the joint fastest fifty (off 13 balls) in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Yashasvi Jaiswal of Rajasthan Royals had scored a fifty off 13 balls in 2023 against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Against Lucknow Super Giants at the Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday, the 27-year-old batsman owned the stage and put the visitors’ bowlers to the sword.
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After a single of his first ball, he smashed three consecutive sixes off the bowling Avesh Khan and then off the second and third balls of the next over of Digvesh Rathi, he hit back-to-back sixes. Then came a four. Off the fifth ball of the over, there was another huge six.
The wicketkeeper batsman, who made his List A debut in 2018, is the first batter to smash six sixes off the first eight balls of an IPL innings. He was 41* off 8 at one point. Before him, the next best score after the first eight balls for anyone in the IPL was 33.
Urvil was all power!
Urvil was all muscles against LSG. All of his sixes went a long way and he oozed confidence. His hitting left both Avesh and Digvesh really perplexed. LSG captain Rishabh Pant tried to have a word with Rathi but it didn’t work as Urvil continued his onslaught.
Earlier, CSK won the toss and decided to have a bowl. Aussie Josh Inglis, with 85 off 33 balls, was the top scorer for LSG. Rishabh Pant’s men should have scored a lot more, but a middle-order collapse did for them. They could only put 203/8 on the board. Jamie Overton of England was CSK’s pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/36.
At the time of writing this article, CSK are 121/1 in 8 overs, with Urvil unbeaten on 62 off 17 balls. CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad is keeping him company on 30 off 17 balls.
In a latest update, Rathi dropped Urvil off the bowling of Prince Yadav make it a forgettable outing for himself. However, Urvil couldn’t make the most of the dropped chance as shortly after he succumbed to Shahbaz Ahmed. He took just 23 balls for his 65 runs. After his onslaught, CSK can’t lose from here for sure. With the asking rate being not challenging at all, the hosts would fancy to get over the line sooner rather than later.