Priyansh Arya has become toast of the IPL 2025 following a remarkable century for Punjab Kings against five-time champions Chennai Super Kings in what is his debut season. The unheralded Delhi cricketer Priyansh Arya stood tall amidst a top-order collapse to peel off a maiden century to help set up a mammoth 200-plus total which proved beyond CSK’s reach.
The 24-year-old Priyansh Arya showed immense courage, peppering the boundary amidst the ruins to ensure PBKS weren’t under the pressure despite the wickets they kept losing regularly.
The fearless approach resulted in Priyansh Arya blasting 103 off 42, an innings featuring seven fours and nine sixes. He now holds the record for the fastest IPL century by an uncapped player. Before entering the IPL limelight, Priyansh Arya had made waves during the Delhi Premier League last year when he smashed six sixes in an over.
Priyansh Arya career – A glimpse
Priyansh Arya is here, and he’s taken the IPL 2025 by storm. The Punjab Kings youngster, who blew a tad cold after an encouraging start in the first against Gujarat Titans, with scores of 47, 8 and 0, utilised his full potential to bludgeon a maiden IPL century against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday. Priyansh Arya’s innings, laced with 4 fours and 9 sixes, along with a half-century from Shashank Singh, powered PBKS to 219/6. In reply, CSK, despite a good chasing effort, fell 18 runs short, finishing on 201/5 to suffer their fourth defeat of the season.
Priyansh Arya played one of the best innings by an uncapped batter in the history of the Indian Premier League on Tuesday, April 8. Priyansh Arya scored a 39-ball hundred, the 4th fastest century in the tournament’s history, guiding his team to a victory over Chennai Super Kings. Priyansh Arya took on spinners Noor Ahmad and R Ashwin despite PBKS losing 5 wickets. Ashwin, particularly, felt the wrath of the Delhi batter, who deposited him for two sixes after the Chennai spinner had got rid of Wadhera and Maxwell.
This prompted Ruturaj to turn to his trusted weapon, Pathirana. But Priyansh Arya wasn’t fazed by the pacer and his unorthodox action and hit him for a hat-trick of sixes to go into the nineties. He edged Pathirana for a boundary to reach his hundred. 22 runs came off just boundaries in the over from the Sri Lankan pacer. India Today caught up with Priyansh coach Sanjay Bhardwaj, who provided some stunning details behind his preparation.
Once teased by friends at early age over base price Rising Star Priyansh Arya relishes his dream in IPL 2025
Priyansh Arya’s journey from the lowkey alleys of Delhi to playing for the IPL 2014 finalists is a testament to the roller-coaster ride he has been on. It is common knowledge that making it big in Delhi cricket isn’t easy. Not many know, but Priyansh Arya’s coach Sanjay Bharadwaj, a renowned figure in the Delhi cricketing circuit, landed him the Delhi U19 trials, and if he hadn’t gone out of his way, it might not have been possible. The coach paid a hefty club tournament entry fee of INR 45,000 so that his pupil would have a shot at the Delhi U19 trials.
“He was not in the U19 selection process. There was a tournament that a former India player was organising. The U19 selector was Gurusharan Singh. I wanted Priyansh to feature in the tournament as I was confident he would become the Player of the Series. I thought if he ends up performing well, I will request Gurusharan to consider him for a trial,” Sanjay Bharadwaj told The Hindustan Times.
While the 6 sixes in an over in the Delhi Premier League brought him overnight stardom, it cannot be forgotten that the youngster has been slogging it out in domestic cricket. In the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Priyansh Arya smashed 222 runs at a strike rate of 166.91. Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin even noticed his performance in the tournament, and he asked all the IPL franchises to consider Priyansh for selection before the auction. ”
“My number one player… He played very well with the bat in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. I am talking about Priyansh Arya. The Delhi opener, a left-handed batsman,” Ashwin had said on his YouTube channel.
Months later, Punjab Kings heard Ashwin as they snapped the big-hitting left-hander for INR 3.8 crore at the auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The amount was substantially higher than Priyansh’s base price, INR 30 lakh.
“He is like my own child. I always believed that Priyansh Arya would fetch good money at the auction. Priyansh told me his friends said he wouldn’t get more than INR 1 crore. But I told his father that Priyansh would at least get INR 2.70 crore,” said Bharadwaj.
Bhardwaj said he runs a gurukul-style camp from his home outside of Bhopal, where players like Nitish Rana, Unmukt Chand, Kulwant Khejroliya, and now Priyansh Arya have benefited from his coaching.
“He practiced in Bhopal ahead of DPL and IPL. I run a residential academy here, situated inside the Ratapani jungle, 20 kilometers from the city. Nitish Rana, Unmukt Chand, and Priyansh have trained here. Think of it like a gurukul,” Bhardwaj told India Today in an exclusive interview.
He added that it is nearly impossible to find the training centre because it does not even have a sign to guide people.
“We don’t have a sign or anything. He trained away from the pollution and the heat of Delhi,” Bhardwaj said.
Speaking about Priyansh Arya’s daily routine in the training camp, Gautam Gambhir’s former coach revealed that the days are long — 12 hours. Priyansh was not allowed to use his phone throughout the day, having access to it for only one hour. Bhardwaj further mentioned that the food was simple, cooked on a traditional brick stove (chulha).
“His first practice started at 6:30 am and went on until 6 pm. There was no rest in between. He was not allowed to use his phone for more than one hour a day. The food was cooked on a chulha. That was his regular day,” he said.
Bhardwaj also revealed that Priyansh Arya called him the morning after scoring his hundred and asked if he had done well.
“He called me the morning after scoring the hundred and asked if he did well. I told him to leave everything to God. If you have his mercy, you will do well in life,” Bhardwaj concluded.
Once the IPL 2025 concludes, Bhardwaj says they have already drawn out a plan to help Priyansh Arya further polish his game with focus on how he can improve his red-ball game.
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