IPL 2025: A word of caution for Priyansh Arya, the Punjab Kings destroyer

After Aniket Verma, it’s the turn of Priyansh Arya to hog the limelight as IPL 2025 batting sensation.

The boyish-looking left-handed opener from Delhi simply set the Mullanpur stadium on fire as he smashed the second-fastest IPL century by an Indian, off 39 balls to be precise, in one of the most blistering counterattacks for the Punjab Kings against a hapless Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday evening, 8 April.

This comes on the back of Verma’s six-hitting spree for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, even as there is a surfeit of new kids on the block among bowlers who caught the eye within the first three weeks — Ashwani Kumar, Vignesh Puthur, Digvesh Rathi, Vipraj Nigam... They are all, broadly speaking, products of a burgeoning culture of state-level T20 leagues, the earliest avatars of which were the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and Karnataka Premier League (KPL) and are breaking through at the right time when IPL is to shrug off a kind of staleness.

Arya, whose earlier best effort was a quickfire 47 off 23 balls on his IPL debut against the Gujarat Titans, gave the idea of ‘fearless’ cricket — almost a cliché these days — new meaning. He had no time for the reputations of a Ravi Ashwin, a Ravindra Jadeja or a Matheesha Pathirana this day.

There were 9 fours and 7 sixes in his effort, which pulled the Punjab Kings up from a precarious 83 for 5, with the likes of captain Shreyas Iyer, Prabhsimran Singh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis back in the hut.

But whence such a transformation among the young, upcoming batters from the vast hinterland of the country?

Speaking to National Herald in a recent chat, T.A. Sekar, pace bowling guru and one of the long-serving scouts with the Mumbai Indians, offered an insight: ‘’The attitude of these boys has brought about the biggest change in IPL. When the league started in 2008, we had to depend on overseas names like a (Chris) Gayle, (Kieron) Pollard or (AB) de Villiers for power hitting. However, the current coaching method right down the supply chain encourages the youngsters to express themselves as they keep practising such big shots for hours.’’

The benefits of this culture are evident, as audacious stroke-players emerge from various corners of the country — Arya is a product of the Delhi Premier League (he plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and has been a protege of Sanjay Bharadwaj), Verma first caught our eye in the Madhya Pradesh Premier League, while the Punjab League has also acquired the reputation of producing some exciting talents.

The goal for these aspiring cricketers is to catch the eyes of the talent scouts from the IPL, though, rather than think long-term and come up the ranks to play for the country.

The excitement from all quarters, however, has to be tempered with the statutory caution — be it a batter or a bowler of any skillset. The IPL can be a merciless playing field, with all the franchises looking for short-term returns.

Given the kind of investments they sink in, the non-stop games, a larger players’ pool on any given day due to the impact sub rule, it all makes for a really short attention span for any one newcomer.

This is where the likes of Arya, now 24 and the son of schoolteacher parents, have to be on their guard, for their own sakes.

There will be no dearth of hyperbole such as what Navjyot Singh Sidhu indulged in in the wake of Arya’s pathbreaking ton when the former Indian opener likened him to Sachin Tendulkar. In a personal video posted on his social media handles, Sidhu went on to compare Arya with some of India’s all-time greats — Tendulkar, Gundappa Vishwanath and Azharuddin.

“Where Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh were all dismissed... he has wrists like Azharuddin and Gundappa Vishwanath. He scored a six over point and cover and then used the same wrists to hit the ball over the mid-wicket fence,’’ gushed Sidhu.

‘’Priyansh Arya, mark my words, he will play for India and he will play for a long time. After Sachin Tendulkar, he is the second batter who is a miracle. Why am I saying this? Look at the circumstances under which he scored that 42-ball century, and what sort of bowlers he was up against, and he scored at around a strike rate of 250,’’ said Sidhu.

Such comparisons, which are picked up like wildfire in the social media age, only invite pressure on a young talent like Arya, however!