Before dpl

Chennai Super Kings: Growing up in New Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, left-handed opener Priyansh Arya had told IANS before the start of IPL 2025 that watching Brendon McCullum’s unbeaten 158 in the competition’s inaugural match as a young kid had fuelled his desire to perform well in the ten-team tournament.

Arya’s performance earlier this week evoked the same sense of wonder as McCullum’s remarkable innings from IPL 2008 when he smashed a 42-ball 103, laced with seven fours and nine sixes against Chennai Super Kings in Mullanpur, and give Punjab Kings a memorable home win.

His century, coming off just 39 balls, is now the joint fourth-fastest in IPL’s history. “The feeling has obviously been very great that I hit a hundred, as runs are made by a lot of people. But hitting a hundred, as per my view, is difficult. On hitting the hundred, I felt very proud of myself,” said a smiling Arya to IANS in a virtual round-table chat organised by the franchise on Thursday.