Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra praised Priyansh Arya after Punjab Kings suffered a three-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals at Dharamshala in the ongoing IPL 2026 on Monday. Arya gave a blistering start to Punjab Kings, taking the attack to Mitchell Starc and Lungi Ngidi.
The PBKS opener scored a fine knock of 56 runs off 30 balls with the help of two fours and six sixes as he scored his runs at a strike rate of 169.70. This was the third IPL fifty for Arya in the ongoing season as he batted at the top of his game in the Powerplay overs.
“Priyansh Arya looked very impressive to me. He is absolutely gold dust. How well he bats. There is rhythm and method in his batting. He 100 percent hits full balls outside the off-stump. He hit Starc for a six off the first ball. He caresses the ball over cover and point. If someone can hit in that direction, it means he is batting very well technically and is using the top hand,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“He defends all the good-length balls. He doesn’t mess with that at all. If you bowl a just short ball, whether on the body or away from the body, he goes after them. He has so much clarity of thought about which ball to hit and which ball not to hit. That is, I think, the hallmark of the way he batted. He thrashed Starc,” he added.
On the other hand, former Delhi cricketer praised Madhav Tiwari for his impressive performance. Tiwari returned with figures of 2-40 in his quota of four overs. Furthermore, the right-hander scored a crucial cameo of 8-ball 18 in the run chase of 211.
“A special mention for Madhav Tiwari. He needs to be spoken about because he did a good job while bowling and made a crucial contribution towards the end in batting alongside Ashutosh Sharma. Whenever someone is in a crisis, Madhav saves them,” he said.
The cricket analyst expressed his surprise while noting that DC have given chances to players like Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari, Abishek Sharma, and Karun Nair ahead of Prithvi Shaw.
“Delhi have used many players, but they haven’t remembered Prithvi Shaw. That’s a surprising thing that you played everyone, you played Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari, of course, he is a different skill set, opened with Abishek Porel, and played Karun Nair as well (in earlier games), but you didn’t think about Prithvi,” Chopra observed.
With this win, Delhi Capitals were able to stay afloat in the tournament.
