Punjab Kings have handed a debut to Delhi opener Priyansh Arya against Gujarat Titans in their first IPL 2025 match today (March 25).
GT skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to put PBKS in to bat. Two players are making their IPL debuts in this match, both for Punjab Kings – opening batter Priyansh Arya and all-rounder Suryansh Shedge.
Match 5, Gujarat Titans vs Punjab Kings
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Who is Priyansh Arya?
Arya hit the spotlight last August, when he whacked six sixes in an over in the Delhi Premier League T20 tournament on his way to 120 off 50 balls. He put on 286 runs with Ayush Badoni, powering South Delhi to 308-5. That tournament does not have T20 status, though.
The 24-year-old has been on the domestic scene for a while. As he revealed in an interview yesterday, Arya was on track to play the 2020 U-19 World Cup for India, but was ineligible for the team. Since he had not undergone an official age test at U-16 level, he could only play U-19 cricket for two years – which he did, for Delhi and in the U-19 Challenger Trophy.
His age-mates Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Tilak Varma and Ravi Bishnoi all played that tournament, and have since represented the senior side.
Also read: No all-rounders, no bowling depth – Rajasthan Royals could be setting up for an IPL 2025 disaster
He debuted for Delhi in the 2021-22 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but Arya first impressed at the senior level in the 2023-24 tournament, averaging 31.7 across seven innings, with a strike rate of 166.9. The stand-out knock that season was an 81 off 47 against a Tamil Nadu attack of Washington Sundar, Varun Chakaravarthy, T Natarajan and R Sai Kishore.
After Punjab signed him for INR 3.8 crore in November’s auction ahead of this IPL season, he continued to impress in the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Arya started with a career-best 102 off 43 against the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shivam Mavi and Piyush Chawla. He hit 25 fours and 23 sixes in all in nine innings, putting up 325 runs at an average of 40.6 and strike rate of 176.6.
Punjab coach Ricky Ponting called him a “special” opening batsman at the start of this IPL season – and he also made a solid start to his IPL career, hitting Mohammed Siraj for four off the second delivery he faced.
Image credit: Instagram / @_arya_priyansh
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