A day after being surprisingly released by Gujarat Titans, Urvil Patel displayed his quality by smashing a 41-ball century in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2023 on Monday, November 27. Gujarat batters smashed an explosive hundred against Arunachal Pradesh to register his maiden century in domestic cricket.
The 25-year-old wicketkeeper batter was among the eight players released by Gujarat Titans on the deadline day to submit a list of retained players. Urvil had joined the Titans during the IPL 2023 auction for INR 20 lakh but did not get a chance to make a single appearance with Wriddhiman Saha, KS Bharat and Mathew Wade competing for the wicketkeeper role.
Both Urvil and KS Bharat were released by the franchise with veterans Saha and Wade being retained. Urvil's release came as a surprise after his impressive performance in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023 where he smashed 162 runs at an impressive strike rate of 167.01.
He carried that form by smashing his maiden hundred in just 41 balls, a second-fastest in Vijay Hazare Trophy history. Urvil is likely to be shortlisted by a few franchises going into the IPL 2024 player auction scheduled in Dubai on December 19.
Meanwhile, Gujarat initially retained captain Hardik Pandya but traded him to Mumbai Indians in an all-cash deal of INR 15 crore on Monday morning. The youngster Shubman Gill is named a new captain to lead the team in the 2024 season with the biggest purse of INR 38.15 crore.
Gujarat Titans:
Players released: Alzarri Joseph, Odean Smith, Dasun Shanaka, Yash Dayal, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Pradeep Sangwan
Players retained: Shubman Gill (C), David Miller, Matthew Wade (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Mohammed Shami, Noor Ahmad, R Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Josh Little, Mohit Sharma
Players traded: Hardik Pandya (to MI)
Remaining Purse: INR 38.15 crore
