Arya's 42-ball 103 powers Punjab Kings to 219

Priyansh Arya, 24, smashed a 39-ball half-century, the joint fourth-fastest in the IPL, to lead Punjab Kings (PBKS) to 219 for 6 in Mullanpur against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

While Arya finished with 103 off 42 balls, the rest of the top six had a combined 32 off 25 balls in a bizarre scorecard. Shashank Singh, then coming in at No. 7, contributed an unbeaten 52 off 36 balls to power PBKS past 200.

Arya had triggered a bidding war at the IPL 2025 auction after hitting six sixes in an over in the inaugural Delhi Premier League (DPL). Brad Haddin, PBKS' assistant coach, said that the team management was convinced of Arya's potential after just one practice session. Arya translated that potential into a sensational performance on Tuesday.

Arya is a bit like a left-handed version of Virender Sehwag. He sees the ball, he whacks the ball. He also has the gift of timing. When Matheesha Pathirana marginally missed a wide yorker and bowled a full-toss - it was still a hard-to-hit full-toss - Arya carved it over point for six. He sent the next three balls off Pathirana for 6,6,4 to charge to a 39-ball hundred. Only Chris Gayle (30), Yusuf Pathan (37) and David Miller (38) have scored faster hundreds (in terms of balls) in the IPL, while Travis Head also has a 39-ball ton.

After bringing up his ton in the 13th over, Arya holed out in the next over, dragging a wrong'un from left-arm wristspinner Noor Ahmad to long-on. Arya could've been dismissed in the very first over had Khaleel Ahmed held onto a fairly straightforward return catch. Arya was on 6 at that point, having scythed the first ball over point for six.

Arya then got another life on 35 when Vijay Shankar dropped a more difficult catch at midwicket. He moved to his half-century, off 19 balls, when he backed away and cracked R Ashwin over mid-off in the last over of the powerplay. In all, he took Ashwin for 28 off ten balls.

After Arya fell, Shashank struck up an unbroken 65-run seventh-wicket stand off 38 balls with Marco Jansen to deflate CSK even further. Ravindra Jadeja was the only CSK bowler to concede at under ten an over.