Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra hailed Priyansh Arya after the PBKS opener scored a scintillating century against Chennai Super Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Arya scored a blistering knock of 103 runs off just 42 balls as he batted at the top of his game. The 24-year-old left-hander was able to hit the ground running, smashing a six off the first ball he faced against Khaleel Ahmed.
The southpaw didn’t look back as he completed his maiden IPL century off just 39 balls, which is the fastest by any batter against CSK in the tournament. The youngster smashed seven fours and nine sixes in his whirlwind innings.
“24-year-old Priyansh Arya, superstar Priyansh Arya, uncapped Indian Priyansh Arya, a Priyansh Arya who is the fourth-fastest to an IPL century, and the second-fastest Indian also to a century. It’s the first time ever in the IPL where one guy in the top six has scored a century and all others had single-digit scores. Everyone else made a telephone number, and he scored a hundred,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra lauded the youngster for backing his shots despite regular wickets falling at the other end.
“Punjab are playing like Hyderabad. It seemed like harakiri at the start. Priyansh was hitting sixes, but wickets were falling at the other end. Everyone was getting out for single digits, but this guy was not stopping. A storm had come at one end, and this guy was going at a different Tsunami,” he added.
The reputed commentator added that Arya has a solid batting technique as the youngster continued to impress.
“His playing style is excellent. He is technically very good. It’s not easy to hit sixes over point, but he hit them at the start. He hooked the short balls and hit fours against (Matheesha) Pathirana. Then, whether it was Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja, he hit them for sixes, and he was absolutely brilliant,” he said.
