Priyansh Arya: From watching Gautam Gambhir at nets to IPL glory

Left-handed batsman Priyansh Arya, who scored this Indian Premier League (IPL) season’s fastest century, used to observe current India cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir from behind the nets at the cricket academy run by Dronacharya Awardee coach Sanjay Bhardwaj in Ashok Vihar over a decade ago.

The opening batsman scored 103 off 42 balls (7x4s, 9x6s) for Punjab Kings (PBKS) in an IPL match on Tuesday against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The innings was more of a counter-punch as he kept stroking the ball to and over the fence even as wickets kept falling around him.

When Glenn Maxwell fell as the fifth wicket with the score on 83, Arya had already scored 57 off 25 balls (5x4s, 4x6s). It was largely due to him that PBKS were going along at over 10 an over then too. In the end, his team defeated CSK by 18 runs.

“He joined the academy in Bharat Nagar (Delhi) when he was about nine years old or 10. This was in 2010-11 (when his ward Gautam Gambhir was part of the India team and another ward Unmukt Chand was beginning to make an impact in Ranji Trophy and about to embark on victorious Under-19 World Cup campaign). I realised then that Priyansh was not at all afraid of the cricket ball even though he was little,” says Bhardwaj from Bhopal, where he has shifted his academy.

“I used to make him and other talented batsmen in my academy stand behind the nets and watch Gautam bat. Gautam Gambhir became his role model,” adds Bhardwaj. 

(From left) Priyansh Arya, Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bhardwaj and Sumit Chikara in a 2018 picture taken at Bharat Nagar ground

The fact that Gambhir is the current India coach will bode well for this son of government school teachers in Ashok Vihar. His knock will be noticed and the hours of practice at the Bharat Nagar ground should be empathised with.

“He is an aggressive player by instinct. He likes to play his shots. He has been given the license to bat aggressively by the management of his IPL team.”

Arya was the top run-getter in Delhi Premier League (DPL) last year. He made 608 runs in 10 matches, representing South Delhi Superstarz. Although he had played a knock of the kind he dished out against CSK on Tuesday night, he had a different role to play in DPL. He was asked to bat for long and play the role of sheet anchor. 

“He likes to play his shots. I remember he was playing an under-14 tournament in Delhi. He single-handedly won us the tournament with his knocks. I got him a Protos cricket kit,” recalls Bhardwaj.

Arya was ninth in the list of run-getters this year at the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament with 325 runs in nine matches at an average of 40.63 and a strike rate of 176.63.

He had also hit six sixes in an over during a DPL match against North Delhi Strikers. He was also the first batsman to hit a century in DPL.

“He often comes down to Bhopal to practice when there is off-season.”

Arya was expecting himself to be picked ahead of 2024 IPL Auctions. But he wasn’t picked. However, ahead of IPL 2025, he was picked by PBKS for Rs 3.8 crore.  

Brad Haddin, a member of the coaching staff at PBKS, says they saw him bat in a practice match and were convinced that he should open.

“We saw him hit 3-4 sixes in the first few deliveries and thought he should be in.”

Tags : Priyansh Arya, Indian Premier League, IPL, Chennai Super Kings, Punjab Kings, Gautam Gambhir, Sanjay Bhardwaj