Priyansh Arya was out for a golden duck after getting bowled by Rajasthan Royals’ Jofra Archer, but in the next match against Chennai Super Kings, he hit the first ball for a six over point. There was hesitation whatsoever. That is what impressed Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting the most about Priynash Arya’s swashbuckling maiden IPL century on Tuesday night in Mullanpur. Arya hit the second-fastest century by an Indian in the IPL by getting to the milestone off just 39 balls.
“I’ve been around in a lot of cricket games. I haven’t seen many better knocks than what I have seen tonight,” Ponting said in a video shared by Punjab Kings on their social media handles.
“There are two things that I want to highlight about Priyansh’s knock. You got out first ball last game and yet the first ball today sails 100 metre over point for a six. That says a lot about you and the attitude we all want to have. You’ve displayed that attitude to everybody today. Regardless of what happened last game, if you’ve made runs, if you haven’t, you stuck to your game. You displayed the attitude to put it back on the bowlers from the first ball. You did that. Unbelievable knock,” said the legendary Australian cricketer reacting to Arya’s 103 off 42 balls.
The left-handed opening batter who is playing his first season in the IPL, hit as many as nine sixes and seven fours in this blistering knock that laid the foundation for Punjab’s big 219 for six.
Ponting heaps praise on Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen
Arya put on a 71-run stand for the sixth wicket with Shashank Singh, who contributed an unbeaten 52 off 36 balls. Ponting was all praise for Shashank’s game awareness.
“Shashank coming in, the magnificent partnership as well with you and him. Awesome knock again. The thing I liked about yours is it’s smart, it’s calculating. You did what the team needed at that time. And I reckon I said a lot when you’re standing there to all of you, what does my team need from me right now? And I reckon you assessed that today and you did exactly what your team needed from you in that spot. Awesome knock, Congratulations.”
Shashank got good support from lanky South African all-rounder Marco Jansen, who scored 34* off 19 balls.
“Marco, where are you, buddy? Very, very important runs there as well. I mean, 39 off 19 partnership, I don’t know what it was. But you talked about it at the time out. He said, I reckon we can get to 220 here. And we got to 219,” Ponting added.
“It’s actually the highest score ever at this venue. And we’ve done it when we were at our backs to the wall at 5 for 80. And that’s what we’ve done so far. Everyone’s been able to chip in so far. When we’ve needed it, guys have put their hand up and got the job done. That’s what good teams are all about.”
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