CSK sign Urvil Patel as a replacement for injured Vansh Bedi

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have signed Gujarat wicketkeeper-batter Urvil Patel as a like-for-like replacement for Vansh Bedi, who has been ruled out of the rest of IPL 2025 with injury. Urvil, 26, will join CSK for his base price of INR 30 lakh.

Bedi, who was picked for INR 55 lakh at the mega auction last November, didn't get a game for CSK in IPL 2025, and has now been sidelined with a ligament tear in his left ankle.

Urvil had been invited to the CSK camp for a mid-season trial, along with Ayush Mhatre, after their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the tournament with an elbow injury. Urvil will now work with Mhatre, CSK's youngest-ever player at 17, in the main squad.

This will be Urvil's second stint in the IPL - he had been part of Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2023 - but is uncapped in the league.

Urvil turned heads in the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 315 runs in six innings at an average of 78.75 and strike rate of nearly 230. Though his team, Gujarat, didn't qualify for the knockouts, Urvil came away as the top six-hitter in the competition, with 29 in six games. Rajat Patidar was the next best on the list with 27 sixes in ten matches.

Against Tripura in Indore, after his name hadn't even come up for bidding in the IPL 2025 auction, he smashed a 28-ball hundred, the joint second-fastest in T20 cricket. In all, Urvil has 1162 runs in 47 T20 innings at a strike rate of 170.38.

After setting the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament alight, Urvil was also at it in the Ranji Trophy, scoring a career-best 140 off 197 balls against Saurashtra in the quarter-finals in Rajkot in February earlier this year.

CSK were the first team to be knocked out of contention for the IPL 2025 playoffs, and will likely use their remaining three games to blood new talents like Urvil into their team as they rebuild for the next season.