VHT: Urvil Patel scripts records with maiden List A century
Gujarat's wicketkeeper-batter Urvil Patel was at his dominant best as he slammed a ton in Round 3 of the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Arunachal Pradesh. Notably, he smashed the second-fastest List-A century by an Indian batter in only 41 deliveries. This was also his maiden century in this format as he guided Gujarat home in a 160-run chase which they managed in 13 overs.
A blazing knock from Urvil
Chasing 160, Urvil and Priyank Panchal opened the batting for Gujarat. The latter was dismissed in the third over after a brisk start. He then stitched an 81-run partnership with Aarya Desai before adding 42 more runs with Saurav Chauhan to steer Gujarat home in 13 overs. Urvil's unbeaten 100 from 41 deliveries was laced with nine boundaries and seven sixes.
Second-fastest List A century by an Indian
As per ESPNCricinfo, Uvril's 41-ball century is the second-fastest ton in List A cricket by an Indian. Only three Indian batters have scored List A century in under fifty deliveries. Yusuf Pathan is the fastest Indian to achieve the feat in 40 deliveries in the 2009-10 season for Baroda. Punjab's Abhishek Sharma is third, having slammed a ton in 42 balls in 2020-21 VHT.
10th-fastest List A ton
Urvil's 41-ball List A century is placed 10th among the fastest tons worldwide. Jake Fraser-McGurk of South Australia holds the record for the fastest List-A century in only 29 balls. His ton came against Tasmania in the Marsh Cup in October 2023. AB de Villiers (31 balls) and Corey Anderson (36 balls) form the top three fastest centurions in this format.
Maiden List A century for Urvil
Urvil made his List A debut in February 2018. He has featured in 10 matches ever since and scored 104 runs, with 29 being his highest score. This was his first List A match since 2018, and he slammed a record-breaking ton. Currently, he owns 204 runs from 10 innings in this format. Urvil has also compiled 847 runs in 41 T20s at 21.17.
Here's the match summary
Batting first, Arunachal Pradesh kept losing wickets and never looked settled against Gujarat's quality bowling attack. There were no 50-plus partnerships as they were bundled for 159. Piyush Chawla and Jayveer Sinh scalped three wickets each. In reply, Urvil and Panchal started briskly before the latter was dismissed. Rest was done by Urvil with his whirlwind century to register an eight-wicket win.
