Arya in new Avatar for Punjab

ONLY a few days into Punjab Kings' pre-season camp, there were several interview requests for Priyansh Arya. When it was put to him that several scribes wanted to speak to him, the opener had given a one-sentence response. "I will talk after I perform," he had said.

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN @Chennai

In a performance straight out of a fever dream on Tuesday night, Arya didn't just perform; he played the sort of innings that will, in time, have its own Wikipedia page. Remember Paul Valthaty's mayhem against the same opposition? That Yusuf Pathan ton from the dream factory when he clattered 100 off 37?

This 100 from Arya, off 39 balls, will belong in that same cultish genre, where an otherwise routine game will be remembered because of the knock. Firstly, Arya may not be a household name, but he's a well-known face among the T20 circuit. In a Delhi Premier League game last year, he hit six sixes in an over. He continued that form into the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s where he top-scored for Delhi (325 runs at a strike-rate of 176.6).

It's why R Ashwin made a special mention of Arya in his YouTube channel before the IPL had begun. ". . . he's my No. 1 player," he had said. When Punjab got him at the auction for ₹3.8 crore (base price of ₹30 lakh), people did expect him to play a part in 2025, but Josh Inglis and the retained Prabhsimran Singh were seemingly the openers who would start.