Gujarat hitter Urvil opens up on how CSK made him "believe in himself", approaching his Team India dream without "extra pressure"

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], November 28 (ANI): Gujarat batter Urvil Patel, who smashed a 31-ball century against Services in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) fixture at Hyderabad this season, said that being at Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2025 season made him believe in himself.

Urvil made a stunning T20 captaincy debut, smashing an unbeaten 119 off just 37 balls to lead Gujarat to an eight-wicket victory over Services in their SMAT Group C opener in Hyderabad on November 26.

Retained by CSK after joining them mid-IPL 2025 as an injury replacement, Urvil blasted his century in only 31 balls--the third-fastest by an Indian. His explosive start made the chase of 183 effortless, as he hammered 12 fours and 10 sixes to seal the win with 45 balls remaining.

In a match against Bengal on November 28, Urvil scored a quick-fire 10-ball 20 but could not take his team to a win, as Bengal won by 3 wickets.

As quoted by ESPNcricinfo, Urvil said that being part of CSK under MS Dhoni changed his perspective on success, teaching him that honest effort matters just as much as runs. He added that his time with the team helped him build real self-belief and trust in his batting.

"When you're in CSK or Dhoni sir's team, the definition of success and failure changes for you. Just going out there and scoring runs isn't success. If I'm putting in my best efforts honestly, that is also success. I learned to believe in myself while at CSK. It sounds simple, but now I truly trust every shot I play more than ever before," he said.

Urvil said that while playing attacking cricket is easy, doing it consistently is challenging, and he believes continued hard work will help him improve further.

"It's not that I try to play aggressive shots from ball one. They are backed by months of hard work, which gives me consistent confidence. Playing aggressive cricket may not be that difficult, but finding consistency in aggression is a little tricky. I know that if I keep working hard like this, I'll be able to play even better cricket in the future."

The right-hand batter said, like any other cricketer, he also wants to play for India, but overthinking about it can add extra pressure, which he doesn't want to do.

"For example, I wanted to do well in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. But I wasn't putting any pressure on myself that I had to do well. To perform well at this stage, I've been working hard for the last two-three months. I've been working on each shot and identifying my mistakes. There have been times when I've worked on just one shot for days. That's why, in every shot I play now, there's confidence, apart from technique," the 27-year-old cricketer said. (ANI)

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