Priyansh Arya became only the second batter to score a hundred in IPL 2025 when he notched up a 42-ball 103 in Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) home match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Mullanpur on Tuesday. 

This was his maiden IPL century and it came off just 39 balls and it was the joint-fourth fastest hundred in the IPL. 

Punjab Kings won by 18 runs.

Arya however set the tone for Tuesday’s match in emphatic fashion from the very first ball when he hit a six. This is only the fourth time an IPL match has begun with a maximum. 

He then went on to hammer nine sixes and seven fours in a breathtaking 103 off just 42 balls. In doing so, he became only the eighth uncapped player in IPL history to register a century. 

Arya’s rise to prominence through his explosive performances in the Delhi Premier League is well-documented. He was the tournament’s leading run-scorer in 2024, amassing over 600 runs in 10 matches, including two centuries and four half-centuries. 

His standout performances caught the attention of IPL scouts, leading to his acquisition by the Punjab Kings for INR 3.8 crore (about $500,000) – a substantial investment in the flamboyant 24-year-old batter.

Arya, who was Player of the Match, said after Tuesday’s match that his century was an “out of the world feeling. I feel very happy but I feel I should contribute more to the team. Shreyas told me to bat with intent, you go for it even with your first ball after I got out last match. When Nehal came out to bat, I told him we will look for singles and doubles, but he told me you play the way with whatever first comes to your mind. All bowlers are good, any bowler could have troubled me.”

Wednesday’s match

Gujarat Titans will take on Rajasthan Royals today, Wednesday April 9.  The match will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and a high-scoring contest could be on the cards.

Fans across Afghanistan can tune in to watch the match, live and exclusively on Ariana Television from 5:30 pm.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BBCI) announced Wednesday that Match 19 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) has been rescheduled and will be played on Tuesday, April 8 at 2:30 pm Kabul time. 

The match was originally scheduled to take place this Sunday, April 6. 

Sunday will now be a single-header match day, opposed to the usual double-header schedule. Sunrisers Hyderabad will play Gujarat Titans at 6 pm Kabul time as originally scheduled. 

However, two matches will be played on Tuesday, April 8. First up will be KKR vs LSG, followed by the Punjab Kings vs Chennai Super Kings. 

Wednesday’s match

Wednesday, April 2, saw Punjab Kings cruise to an 8-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants after a dominant all-round performance.

A disciplined bowling effort restricted LSG to 171/7 at home before PBKS chased it down in style. 

Player-of-the-Match Prabhsimran Singh (69 off 34), skipper Shreyas Iyer (52* off 30), and Nehal Wadhera (43* off 25) powered the visitors to a flawless finish, keeping them unbeaten in the league. 

This convincing win propelled PBKS to second place in the points table, boosting their confidence for the games ahead.

Thursday’s match

Today, Thursday April 3, will see Kolkata Knight Riders take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The match will start at 6 pm Kabul time. Once again, Ariana Television will  broadcast this thrilling event live across Afghanistan. 

An exasperated Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said their failure to read the pitch at Chepauk has denied them any home advantage in the new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Five-time champion Chennai suffered their biggest defeat at home, in terms of runs, on Friday when Royal Challengers Bengaluru thumped them by 50 runs, Reuters reported.

“Well, as we’ve been telling you for a number of years, there was no home advantage at Chepauk,” Fleming said after Chennai’s first defeat of the new season.

“We haven’t been able to read the wickets here in the last couple of years,” he added. “So it’s not new. We are trying to come to grips each day with what we get, and we don’t know.”

Chennai’s spinners were not really effective, while Josh Hazlewood led Bengaluru’s superb pace display to set up their victory.

“It’s not the Chepauk (of old) where you can just go in and play four spinners,” former New Zealand captain Fleming said. “We’re having to work really hard to try and understand what the nature of each pitch is, and it’s quite different.”

Even the dew that Fleming had expected set in during the second innings did not materialise and Chennai fell well short of their target of 197.

“No, we didn’t get it right,” Fleming said. “It’s so hard to read, but we thought it was going to skid on with the dew, but it actually got a bit tacky. So, it certainly made it (batting) harder here.”

Saturday’s Match