Urvil Patel's maiden double century sets up Gujarat's innings win over Kerala

Urvil Patel turned his maiden first-class double century into an innings win for Gujarat over Kerala at the Narendra Modi Stadium

Gujarat finished their fourth-round Ranji Trophy match in Ahmedabad with a win by an innings and 64 runs, a second victory in a season in which they have still not been beaten.

The match belonged to two of their players. Urvil Patel, a wicketkeeper-batter known chiefly for his white-ball hitting, made 210 not out from 227 balls, and the left-arm seamer Arzan Nagwaswalla took eight wickets across Kerala's two innings.

Gujarat batted first after winning the toss and declared on 534 for 9 in 144.2 overs. Kerala were dismissed for 279, asked to follow on, and bowled out again for 191.

A hundred in 91 balls

Patel came in at number six with Gujarat 189 for 5 and an innings that needed repairing rather than accelerating.

He reached his hundred from 91 balls and his double hundred from 214, and finished unbeaten with 17 fours and six sixes against his name.

The stand that settled the match was his 179 for the sixth wicket with Vishal Jayswal, who made 77 from 120 balls before being run out.

Patel then worked through the tail, adding 78 for the eighth wicket with Amit Desai and 82 for the ninth with Siddharth Desai before the declaration came early on the second afternoon.

Aarya Desai had set the innings up with 95, putting on 116 for the first wicket with Abhishek Desai, who made 42.

Nagwaswalla takes eight in the match

Kerala's reply lasted 88.2 overs and produced three fifties without a hundred. Vishnu Vinod top-scored with 66, Aditya Sarwate made 58 and Mohammed Azharuddeen 57.

Nagwaswalla took 4-59 from 17.2 overs and the Gujarat captain Chintan Gaja 3-65 from 18, leaving Kerala 255 behind on first innings and Gujarat free to enforce the follow-on.

The second innings went the same way at a lower score. Sachin Baby made 52 and Vinod 39, and nobody else passed 30 as Kerala were bowled out for 191 in 88 overs.

Nagwaswalla returned 4-24 from 12 overs to finish with eight wickets in the match, with the off-spinner Siddharth Desai taking 2-63 from 29.

Kerala's bowlers given little

Kerala were in the field for 144.2 overs and took nine wickets in that time.

Nedumankuzhy Basil was the most effective of them with 3-80 from 23.2 overs. Sarwate, who followed his 58 with the bat by bowling 25 overs, conceded 146 runs for two wickets.

Gujarat unbeaten after four rounds

Gujarat opened the season by beating Odisha and then drew with Delhi and Maharashtra, so this was their second win and a significant haul of points in Elite Group C.

Two of the group's four matches in the round were drawn, Odisha against Jharkhand and Delhi against Services, with Maharashtra's ten-wicket win over Bengal at Eden Gardens the other result.

A white-ball reputation, in red-ball runs

Patel's name is attached to shorter formats. He made a 28-ball hundred against Tripura in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in November 2024, reported at the time as the fastest T20 century by an Indian batter.

In the 2026 IPL he scored 197 runs for Chennai Super Kings at a strike rate of 205.21, and his 13-ball fifty against Lucknow Super Giants in May equalled the fastest in the competition's history.

The red-ball record has been catching up this season. He had already made 85 from 67 balls against Odisha and 96 from 72 against Maharashtra before this, his third first-class hundred and his first to pass 200.

The timing is not incidental: franchises must confirm their retained players before the IPL 2027 mini-auction, with the deadline falling on 17 November.

Scorecard: Gujarat 534 for 9 declared (Urvil Patel 210*, Aarya Desai 95, Vishal Jayswal 77; Nedumankuzhy Basil 3-80) beat Kerala 279 (Vishnu Vinod 66, Aditya Sarwate 58, Mohammed Azharuddeen 57; Arzan Nagwaswalla 4-59, Chintan Gaja 3-65) and 191 (Sachin Baby 52, Vishnu Vinod 39; Arzan Nagwaswalla 4-24) by an innings and 64 runs.