Priyansh Arya in action during IPL 2026© AFP
Punjab Kings opener Priyansh Arya scripted history as he achieved a unique feat during the IPL 2026 match against Delhi Capitals on Monday. Priyansh, who is well-known for his aggressive brand of batting, opened the innings in style as he slammed the first ball from Mitchell Starc for a massive six. This was the second time that Arya smashed the first ball of a match for a six. The previous instance came in IPL 2025 against Chennai Super Kings, when he hit a six off the bowling of Khaleel Ahmed. As a result, he became the only batter in IPL history to hit the first ball of a match for a six twice. Naman Ojha, Virat Kohli, Phil Salt and Yashasvi Jaiswal have also achieved the feat, but all of them have done it only once.
This was the third time that Arya smashed the first ball of an IPL innings for a six — just one behind record-holder Jaiswal (four).
He also became the second Indian batter after the 15-year-old sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to score a half-century within the powerplay at least three times.
Half-centuries from skipper Axar Patel and David Miller powered Delhi Capitals to a thrilling three-wicket win over Punjab Kings and kept their slim playoff hopes alive.
Sent in to bat, Priyansh Arya (56 off 33) and Prabhsimran Singh (18) shared 78 runs off 41 balls for the opening wicket for PBKS.
After their departure, Shreyas Iyer (59 not out off 36 balls) and Cooper Connolly (38 off 27) took responsibility to carry the innings forward as PBKS posted 210 for five.
In reply, DC slipped to 74 for four but Axar (56) and Miller (51) resurrected the chase, while Ashutosh Sharma and Madhav Tiwari completed the task, scoring 216 for seven in 19 overs.
Mitchell Starc (2/57) and Madhav (2/40) picked up two wickets each for DC.
For PBKS, Arshdeep Singh (2/21), Ben Dwarshuis (1/51) and Marcus Stoinis (1/44) were among the wicket-takers.
(With PTI inputs)
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