New Delhi: First ball: Single. Next eight balls: six sixes, 41 runs, and IPL History rewritten. On Sunday night in Chepauk, there was no ease in the innings for Arul Patel, only immediate destruction.Chasing 204 runs against Lucknow Supergiants in their IPL 2026 match, the 26-year-old came on after Sanju Samson was dismissed in the fourth over. What followed was the most explosive start in IPL history.
After that, Avish Khan scored three more runs in a row. Digvesh Rathi repeatedly disappeared into the stands. Even Muhammad Shami was not spared. In the blink of an eye, Arul had scored a 13-ball fifty, the joint fastest in IPL history.And buried within the wreckage was another extraordinary record.Arrol became the first batsman in IPL history to hit six sixes in the first eight balls of an innings. By the time he had faced just eight balls, he had already reached 41 not out after eight balls in IPL history, which was 33.An emotional Arul celebrated the milestone by pulling out a handwritten note that read: “This is for you papa”.By the time his enthralling innings ended at 65 off just 23 balls, studded with eight towering sixes, CSK were firmly in control of the chase and eventually sealed victory with four balls to spare.But for those who know Arul closely, it was not madness. It was a complicated exercise. Three days before the game, the wicketkeeper-batsman had already warned his coach.
‘Mai Dhamka Karunga’
On Sunday night, he said exactly that. “He said, ‘I will threaten you’ three days before the match. sure that. It was not known that Lakhna would make such a big splash,” Arul’s coach Prakash Pattani told TimesofIndia.com.The aggressive right-hander only got his extended run in the CSK XI when Ayush Mahatre suffered a hamstring injury. Despite this, intent has been exposed in just four matches.There were traces of this even before the LSG massacre. After falling for 4 against Gujarat Titans in his first outing, Arrol hit 24 off 12 balls with two fours and two sixes against Mumbai Indians. He then scored 9 off 17 balls against Delhi Capitals, a modest score on paper, but one that included two huge sixes.Attack, regardless of the situation, has been Arul’s mantra. Well-known commentator Ian Bishop summed it up perfectly during the DC game. “He is a no-nonsense type of batsman. CSK needed him.”
Arul Patel’s obsession with hitting 200 sixes in a day
The six-hitting prodigy that Arul has become is not a product of chance or natural instinct alone – it is the result of deliberate training, discipline and sharp focus in IPL 2026.Arul has made power hitting the main focus of his preparations for IPL 2026. Behind the scenes, Gujarat’s batsmen were following a brutal training routine built around an astonishing target: hit 200 sixes every single day.According to coach Prakash Pattani, Arul took up the challenge tirelessly at the PCCC Academy Cricket Ground near Newganj Bazar in Palanpur, Gujarat.“He used to hit 200 sixes a day, that’s how he prepared for IPL 2026. Hitting a six or two is fine, but hitting consecutive eights at this level is not easy. There is a lot of hard work behind it,” Patani said.“He didn’t miss a day, and the streak continued for over a month. He would come at 5 am and practice till 1 or sometimes 2 am, with short breaks in between. Most of the time, we didn’t even use the bowling machine. I made him bowl with the help of a robo-arm. He only practiced with kookaburra balls,” he added.“He had a hunger inside him. He was adamant about doing well in this IPL. He always said, ‘Muja moka mila hai, kuch lugun ko hai; I want to do something different’ (I rarely get this opportunity. I want to do something different).
Arul with his coach Prakash Patani (Special Arrangements)
Arul Patel: An elite six hitter
And according to the data, he already is. One of the neatest ways to measure sixes performance in T20 cricket is balls per six: basically how many deliveries a batsman takes to clear the ropes once. The lower the number, the more devastating the killer.Arul has hit 90 sixes in just 841 balls in T20 cricket, giving him an astonishing 9.34 balls per six. This puts it in elite territory.Among the major T20 power hitters, only a few players operate below the 10-ball-per-six mark:
Arul Patel, an elite six-hitter (AI-generated image)
For context, Arroll is currently hitting more sixes than Glenn Maxwell, Henrik Klaasen. Surya Kumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma.His six-hitting frequency translates to 10.7 sixes per 100 balls: a number that places him firmly in the ultra-elite ‘six-hitter’ bracket in T20 cricket.Of course, sample size matters. Most of the names on this list have maintained those numbers over thousands of balls and in many leagues around the world. But in terms of purely six-hit performance, Urvil is already in rare company.
Dhoni’s bat connection
Ahead of IPL 2026, Arul also received a special set of bats, gifted by legendary Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.“He got a bat from Dhoni. He had a heavy bottom hand. He practiced with that bat in the CSK nets. In fact, he even told Dhoni that the bat felt a little heavy. Dhoni told him, ‘This will help you hit big sixes, practice with it’, Patani revealed.“Arul trained with this bat in the CSK nets and later got a custom-made bat with a slightly heavier bottom hand. That’s the bat he used against LSG.”Being a wicket-keeper batsman himself, Arul has always idolized Dhoni.“He is grateful to be sharing the dressing room and the field with this legend. Dhoni told him, ‘Play like you play. If you want to be a good cricketer, be always on the ground’ (Play the way you naturally play. If you want to be a great cricketer, always be on the field),” the coach said.
A relentless sixer in domestic cricket
Arul’s reputation for hitting sixes didn’t start in the IPL. During the 2024–25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he scored a 28-ball T20 century – the fastest by an Indian and second fastest overall in men’s T20 cricket, which included 12 sixes. He also scored a 36-ball century against Uttarakhand a week later, then hit 11 sixes. In List A cricket, he owns a 41-ball century – only the second-fastest century by an Indian. Yusuf Pathan.In fact, Arul hit the most sixes this season with 29 in six innings, beating the likes of Abhishek Sharma (18 in 7), Priyansh Arya (23 in 9) and Rajast Patidar (27 in 9). And it wasn’t a one-season wonder.The next season, Survival hit 18 sixes in 7 innings, but most surprisingly, he finished with the second-best strike rate for the lowest player. 50 balls faced for the season (243.75), behind only Abhishek Shama’s 243.75.Arul was first picked up by Gujarat Titans ahead of IPL 2023 for a base price of Rs 20 lakh but did not play a single game during his tenure with the franchise. He was finally released before the IPL 2024 auction.Despite strong domestic performances, he surprisingly did not sell again in the IPL 2025 auction. His fortunes changed when Chennai Super Kings signed him as an injury replacement for Vinash Bedi during the 2025 season. He featured in three matches that year before being retained for IPL 2026 for Rs 30 lakh.Now, after an unforgettable night of six-hit destruction, CSK may have found exactly what they were looking for: a fearless boundary hunter made for modern T20 cricket.
