Dashing southpaw Priyansh Arya was the breakout star among the state T20 leagues last year, having set the inaugural Delhi Premier League season on fire with mighty sixes and prodigious bat-swing. Arya’s immense ball-striking abilities straightaway caught the eye of the talent scouts and Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting, who roped him in at Rs 3.8 crore for the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 season.
Thanks to his sizzling run with the South Delhi Superstarz last season, Arya soon became a household name after an impressive maiden IPL season where he racked up 475 runs in 17 innings, including a century. Returning to the DPL stage this month, the left-handed opener had a quiet start before finding his groove again with another century at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Friday.
In yet another spell-binding performance performance for the Outer Delhi Warriors, Arya conjured up a 111-run knock in only from 56 balls. His record-breaking innings, which included seven fours and nine sixes, propelled the team to a massive total of 231/7, making him the first batter to smash three hundreds in the Delhi-based tournament.
After a lean start to the season, tallying only 50 runs in three innings, Arya said that his childhood coach Sanjay Bhardwaj had urged him to smack a century prior to the game.
“He said, ‘Score a century for me today,’” Arya told in the post-match chat. “I took my time early on, got set, and I’m glad I could do exactly what he asked.”
However, Arya’s knock went in vain as the East Delhi Riders romped home by five wickets in the steep chase. Led by skipper Anuj Rawat’s rapid 82, the Riders raced home with four balls to spare.
Ar-YEAH 🙌
Priyansh Arya walked in calm, walked out with 111 off 56 against East Delhi Riders 🏏#DPL2025 pic.twitter.com/F6v2UE4XaC
— FanCode (@FanCode) August 8, 2025
Priyansh shot to the limelight when he six sixes in an over in the DPL last year and topped the batting charts with 608 runs, including two centuries. Arya also had a prolific Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign for Delhi last season, top-scoring with 325 runs in 9 matches at a strike rate of 176.63.
“I watched many videos of young players. What I look for is ball-striking talent, like Priyansh Arya. He’s an out-and-out clean ball striker. Technically, he looks a bit unorthodox, but I guarantee he’s going to make a serious mark on this IPL,” Aussie legend Ponting would say in Arya’s praise early on during the IPL 2025 season.