Delhi Premier League: Priyansh Arya makes a statement in South Delhi win

Priyansh Arya was one of the young, uncapped players expected to be picked in the Indian Premier League auction in December last year along with Uttar Pradesh’s Sameer Rizvi. Being the star performer for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 had raised his stocks.

However, he went unsold at the auction.

But the 23-year-old dashing left-hander has left behind that disappointment and decided to focus on tasks at hand, which he feels will get him another opportunity to be picked for IPL.

On Tuesday, in the evening match of the Delhi Premier League T20, Arya blazed to 82 off 51 balls, hammering seven sixes and three fours as he helped South Delhi Superstarz beat Central Delhi Kings by six wickets.

This was his second score of 50-plus and took him to the top of the run-getters’ list with 139 runs. He had made 57 off 30 balls in the DPL opener. 

“I have thought I will be as consistent as it is possible and score runs [to get noticed],” said Arya on being asked by www.thedelhijunction.com about the disappointment of missing an IPL contract.

Arya was ably supported by South Delhi Superstarz skipper Ayush Badoni (42 off 36 balls), who also took two good catches in the deep. 

“All I wanted to do was to take the innings as deep as possible because it would have been difficult for the new batsman on this pitch. This pitch was different from the last game. The ball was coming fast in the last game, but this pitch was double paced. So we thought whoever is settled, he should finish it,” added Arya.

Although the chase of the 177-run target was slow, Arya took upon himself the task of accelerating the innings.

“Since I was the set batsman, I had to take all the chances. They were bowling well with the new ball. So we thought that our opportunity will come and we will avail it,” he said.

The South Delhi Superstarz had done well to restrict Central Delhi Kings to 176/7 in 20 overs.

Finally, skipper Yash Dhull clicked, scoring 52 off 44 balls. Dhruv Kaushik began from where he left on Monday, blazing to 56 off 34 balls. Kaushik is just behind Arya, with 119 runs in the top run-getters’ list.

Although Dhull returned to form after two failures, his team couldn’t build on his knock and set an imposing target.

“They were 120 in 13 overs so we wanted to restrict them at 160-170,” said Arya.

This was Central Delhi Kings’ third loss on the trot and puts them at the bottom of the table.

South Delhi Superstarz have four points from two matches, the same as East Delhi Riders, but since they have an inferior net run rate, they occupy the second spot.

Brief scores

Central Delhi Kings: 176/7 in 20 overs (Dhruv Kaushik 56 off 34, Yash Dhull 52 off 44, Kuldip Yadav 2/37) lost to South Delhi Superstarz: 177/4 in 19.1 overs (Priyansh Arya 82 off 51, Ayush Badoni 42 off 36, Money Grewal 2/22)

Tags : Delhi Premier League, cricket, T20, Priyansh Arya, Yash Dhull, Dhruv Kaushik, South Delhi Superstarz, Central Delhi Kings