New Chandigarh, April 8 (IANS) The left-handed opener Priyansh Arya showed supreme class to smash his maiden century in the Indian Premier League (IPL), against the Chennai Super Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old scored the fastest century, off 39 deliveries, against the Super Kings and tied Travis Head for the fourth-fastest century in tournament history. It was also the second-fastest century by an Indian batter in the tournament after Yusuf Pathan.

The young left-handed opener played a brilliant 42-ball 103-run innings before being dismissed by Noor Ahmad. His innings was laced with seven boundaries and nine sixes as he tore through the Chennai bowling attack. With wickets tumbling from the other end,

He perfectly started his innings by sending Khaleel Ahmed’s delivery for a six on the first ball of the game before being dropped by the bowler on the very next delivery, and proceeded to hit the quick for 17 in the opening over. Arya once again rode his luck, while batting at 79, when he was caught by Mukesh Choudhary, but he stepped onto the ropes, deeming it a six.

He ended the power-play by hitting Ravichandran Ashwin for four and two sixes before hitting two more sixes off the great Indian spinner in the 12th over.

Arya also raised his century in style by hitting three consecutive sixes of Matheesha Pathirana before edging the next ball for four to reach the three-figure mark. He is the second batter to reach the milestone in this edition after Ishan Kishan, who scored an unbeaten 106 against the Rajasthan Royals.

Priyansh first attracted attention when he thumped six sixes in an over in the inaugural edition of the Delhi Premier League (DPL), amassing 608 runs in 10 innings with an astonishing strike rate of 198.69, including two centuries and four fifties.

The tournament was being covered by scouts of IPL teams, which meant Priyansh, with an ability to hit sixes consistently, especially down the ground, came under their radar and attended pre-mega-auction trials of all teams before joining PBKS for Rs 3.8 crore.

--IANS

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