Priyansh Arya mocked by friends, told 'you won't get more than 1 crore' in IPL auction, used INR 45,000 to realise dream

Priyansh Arya's coach Sanjay Bharadwaj narrated an incident that spurred the Punjab Kings youngster to go even bigger than his potential.

Priyansh Arya is here, and he's taken the IPL 2025 by storm. The Punjab Kings youngster, who blew a tad cold after an encouraging start in the first against Gujarat Titans, with scores of 47, 8 and 0, utilised his full potential to bludgeon a maiden IPL century against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday. Priyansh's innings, laced with 4 fours and 9 sixes, along with a half-century from Shashank Singh, powered PBKS to 219/6. In reply, CSK, despite a good chasing effort, fell 18 runs short, finishing on 201/5 to suffer their fourth defeat of the season.

CSK never recovered from Priyansh Arya's assault(AFP)

Priyansh's journey from the lowkey alleys of Delhi to playing for the IPL 2014 finalists is a testament to the roller-coaster ride he has been on. It is common knowledge that making it big in Delhi cricket isn't easy. Not many know, but Priyansh Arya's coach Sanjay Bharadwaj, a renowned figure in the Delhi cricketing circuit, landed him the Delhi U19 trials, and if he hadn't gone out of his way, it might not have been possible. The coach paid a hefty club tournament entry fee of INR 45,000 so that his pupil would have a shot at the Delhi U19 trials.

"He was not in the U19 selection process. There was a tournament that a former India player was organising. The U19 selector was Gurusharan Singh. I wanted Priyansh to feature in the tournament as I was confident he would become the Player of the Series. I thought if he ends up performing well, I will request Gurusharan to consider him for a trial," Bharadwaj told The Hindustan Times.