Priyansh Arya got into the IPL auction and earned a Rs 3.8 crore per season Punjab Kings contract after hammering a century -- 120 off just 50 deliveries -- in a Delhi Premier League game.
On Tuesday, he brought that blazing bat of his to the IPL party in a match against the Chennai Super Kings, racing to a hundred off just 39 deliveries at the Mullanpur stadium in Ludhiana.
The left-handed Arya, who began with a six off the first ball of the match, was eventually dismissed for 103 off 42 balls - a knock studded with seven fours and nine sixes -- by spinner Noor Ahmad.
With his first-ball six, the 24-year-old emulated his idol Virat Kohli becoming one among four batters to send the opening delivery of an IPL match over the ropes.
The four players to do this now are:
* Naman Ojha vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Durban, 2009
* Virat Kohli vs Rajasthan Royals, Bengaluru, 2019
* Phil Salt vs Mumbai Indians, Kolkata, 2024
* Priyansh Arya vs Chennai Super Kings, Mullanpur, 2025*
Arya's hundred came in an over that pitted him against 'Baby Malinga' Matheesha Pathirana. The Sri Lanka quick ended up being creamed for 22 runs in four balls -- six, six, six and four. It was a sequence that took the Punjab Kings opener from 80* off 35 balls to 102* off 39.
Arya's was the fourth fastest hundred in IPL history after Chris Gayle's (30 balls), Yusuf Pathan's (37 balls) and David Miller's (38 balls). Travis Head has also hit a century in 39 balls in the IPL.
Six-sixes-in-an-over feat
On August 31, 2024, Arya had done what Ravi Shastri and Yuvraj Singh achieved before him -- sending North Delhi Strikers spinner Manan Bharadwaj soaring over the boundary six times in an over.
Son of schoolteachers, Arya had gone on to rack up 600 runs in 10 games in the Delhi Premier league.
His early coach Sanjay Bharadwaj had famously trained Gautam Gambhir before.