3 teams where Urvil Patel would have been a good fit after IPL 2025 Auction ft. Rajasthan Royals
Gujarat wicketkeeper-batter Urvil Patel struck his second century in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 on Tuesday, December 3. He will consider himself a tad unfortunate to miss out on being picked by a franchise at the IPL auction last month in Jeddah.
Patel first made headlines for scoring a 28-ball ton against Tripura last week. He then scored a 42-ball unbeaten 115 against Uttarakhand on Tuesday and made everyone across the country sit up and take notice.
While his first ton against Tripura was the fastest-ever scored by an Indian in this format of the game, the second was equally illuminating, being studded with eight boundaries and 11 sixes.
Urvil Patel seems to be in a mood of vengeance after he was ignored by IPL franchises. In this listicle, we take a look at three teams where Patel would have been a good fit.
#1 Rajasthan Royals
The Rajasthan Royals would have been the first team Patel could have fitted into given that their philosophy is to groom and develop young Indian players and make them ready for the next step in which they can express themselves. Plus, they only have Kunal Rathore in their side as an Indian wicketkeeper.
Patel would have found himself in an amiable environment where he did not have much pressure to deal with and got to enjoy his cricket in a holistic way. The Royals, too, would have benefitted from having such a superb ball-striking wicketkeeper-batter in their ranks.
#2 Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Urvil Patel would have also been a good fit at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru given that they have not quite spent a lot of money in buying young Indian top-order batters as well as wicketkeepers.
They only have Phil Salt and Jitesh Sharma in their ranks who are proper wicketkeepers but the former is an overseas professional and the latter is a middle-order batter.
Patel could have fitted into the top order at RCB and got them off to good starts against the new ball. He would have benefitted a lot by playing alongside the likes of Virat Kohli and got to learn directly from the master himself.
#3 Gujarat Titans
Although the Gujarat Titans (GT) already have the likes of Kumar Kushagra and Anuj Rawat in their ranks as Indian wicketkeeper-batters, they could have purchased Patel and let go of either of the aforementioned players. The Gujarat wicketkeeper-batter excels at the top of the order and would have been a good signing.
Since they have a solid batting order consisting of the likes of Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler, and Glenn Phillips, they would have benefitted even more by bringing Patel into the fold. His explosiveness at the top of the order alongside fellow opener Buttler would have surely added a lot of fire to the GT batting unit.