Priyansh Arya’s six-hitting parade in IPL 2025 exposes deep cracks in CSK’s defense.
Priyansh Arya of Punjab blasted sixes that the Chennai Super Kings’ hitters could not muster.
Both teams can be transported back to the era of auctions by this contest. Chennai Super Kings will lament the huge opportunity they lost to restructure their team, while Punjab Kings would feel validated by their successful pursuit of Priyansh Arya. Two points would help PBKS’s chances of winning the championship, but the 18-run loss—their fourth of the season—pushes CSK farther into the abyss.
The six parades of Priyansh
Bowlers were warned about Priyansh Arya’s ability to hit sixes after he hit six sixes in an over in a Delhi Premier League match, over two dozen sixes, and a maximum every ninth ball in the previous Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The sixes that flowed off his bat on Tuesday hurt the seasoned CSK attack, which has decades of experience getting wickets packed among its members. He faced nine sixes from the first ball till the very end of his 42-ball 103.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who had predicted that Priyansh would win this IPL, was one of the poor people who fell prey to his attacks. However, he didn’t anticipate that their encounter would be so uneventful. He scored 28 runs off of his 10 deliveries, including three colossal sixes. One sledgehammered through mid-wicket, another was whistled past the long-off defender, and a third went through long-off (a catch if not for Mukesh Chaudhary’s heel brushing the boundary cushion). When he returned with his monstrous stats of 4-0-48-2, Ashwin’s awe had given way to fear after the slaughter.
There were others besides him. The Sri Lankan slinger Matheesha Pathirana’s reputation was damaged after he was hit for three consecutive sixes by Arya. Perhaps none was as opulent as his initial swipe, in which he sweet-spotted a low full toss over backward point with delectable placement and quick hands. The attack occurred during a stretch of play when CSK was regaining ground with a constant flow of wickets. Kings Punjab managed just 19 runs in four overs, with Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja taking two each, and lost Glenn Maxwell and Nehal Wadhera to trade wickets. All of a sudden, they had lost 94 runs and half the team.
Priyansh, however, allowed the storm to pass before creating a hurricane of his own. His scoring style was more spectacular than the speed at which he scored it. Like the Jamaican, he had a carefree air about him, and the shots were strong yet elegant.
His batting is all about simplicity. He crosses and backs off, then locks himself still. He determines the length beforehand, considers the shot that he believes will maximize his profit, and then performs it simply. The follow-through is little, and the batswing is fluent. He chooses his positions, takes advantage of the seamen’s speed, and glides them in the direction of the fence instead of using any violent tactics. There is still no vicious wood in his willow even after he increases the force against the spinners. He also had a good attitude; he was unfazed by losing partners in powerplay or being squeezed in the early middle overs. He batted as if his mind had already preprogrammed the knock’s tone.
He was dropped three times, with Khaleel Ahmed’s second ball caught-and-bowled escape being the easiest, but he joyfully clung to his life to create a knock that would be included in the IPL highlight reel for years to come.
The yellow wall has cracks.
A couple of painful realizations would have gained momentum as CSK hobbled to a mild conclusion. that just the bones of a magnificent past remain as the fissures in the golden wall grow deeper and broader. There was no spectacular finish, despite MS Dhoni hitting three brilliant sixes and a four. This might indicate that he should bat up the order and save himself for appearances later.
However, even with a level pitch, lightning-fast outfield, and inebriated fielders (5 dropped catches), CSK was too weak a team to chase down a target as steep as 220. The middle overs saw a slowdown in pace after the fast start, more because of the bowlers’ perplexing caginess than because they were choking. Their knowledge that the lower order is devoid of depth and a true power hitter may be the cause. Therefore, Devon Conway and Shivam Dube believed that to plan a theft, they needed to go as deep as possible in the game. The fact that the innings’ first six came in the tenth over tells a tale of incompetence.
Only after the thirteenth over did the true push occur. The visitors needed precisely 100 of 42 balls at this point. Hope was revived with the 19-run over. However, their aspirations were realistically dashed when Dube left at 42 with the score at 151 in 15.5 when a Lockie Ferguson knuckleball knocked his stumps.
Their bowling and some tactical choices may also need to be reexamined, in addition to the makeup of their batting. Conway, CSK’s most composed batsman of the evening, retired injured before the 19th over. Ravindra Jadeja, who now takes his time to get out of his straps, instead marched in. When boundaries were the absolute minimum needed, he understandably squandered the first two balls, managing only singles.
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