"Everyone else made a telephone number, and he scored a hundred" - Aakash Chopra lauds Priyansh Arya's century in PBKS' IPL 2025 win vs CSK

Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Priyansh Arya for scoring a match-winning century in the Punjab Kings' (PBKS) IPL 2025 clash against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He noted that the youngster was smashing the CSK bowlers all around the park despite a flurry of wickets at the other end.

Arya smoked 103 runs off 42 deliveries as PBKS set CSK a 220-run target in Match 22 of IPL 2025 in Mullanpur on Tuesday, April 8. The home team then restricted the five-time champions to 201/5 to register an 18-run win.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener praised Arya for virtually single-handedly taking his team to a mammoth total.

"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.

"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 Punjab Kings were reduced to 83/5 after eight overs as Prabhsimran Singh (0 off 2), Shreyas Iyer (9 off 7), Marcus Stoinis (4 off 7), Nehal Wadhera (9 off 7) and Glenn Maxwell (1 off 2) were dismissed cheaply. Their score was 154/6 when Arya was dismissed for 103.

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"It's not easy to hit sixes over point" - Aakash Chopra on Priyansh Arya's strokeplay during his century in PBKS' IPL 2025 win vs CSK

Priyansh Arya struck seven fours and nine sixes during his 103-run knock. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Priyansh Arya took all the Chennai Super Kings bowlers to the cleaners with his scintillating shots.

"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.

While praising the Punjab Kings for acquiring Arya at the IPL 2025 auction, the analyst predicted a bright future for the left-handed opener.

"In my opinion, you will hear his name many times. Well done, Punjab. He went unsold last year and was sold for ₹3.80 crore this year. Opening with two uncapped players is a huge thing. They have done that, and Priyansh is here to stay," Chopra observed.

Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen stitched together an unbroken 65-run seventh-wicket partnership after Arya was dismissed. While Shashank scored an unbeaten 52 off 36 deliveries with the help of two fours and three sixes, Jansen struck two fours and as many maximums in his unbeaten 19-ball 34.