Punjab Kings claimed their first home win of the Indian Premier League campaign, defeating the Chennai Super Kings by 18 runs in a high-scoring affair at Mullanpur.
After winning Tuesday's toss, Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer opted to bat first. But his side enjoyed a bittersweet powerplay, losing opener Prabhsimran Singh (0), Iyer himself (9) and Marcus Stoinis (4) early.
Thankfully for the hosts, Arya’s blitz inside the first six softened the blow as they ended the powerplay at 75-3.
Middle-order batters Nehal Wadhera (9) and Glenn Maxwell (1) fell cheaply as Punjab looked to be in a spot of bother.
But Arya held his nerve and stitched together a lovely partnership with Shashank Singh (52 not out), worth 71 runs off just 34 balls.
That powered the Kings to a healthy total of 219-6, with Marco Jansen (34 not out) chipping in with some valuable runs late on. Arya ended with 103 off 42 at a strike rate of 245.23, eventually being caught by Vijay Shankar off Noor Ahmad's bowling.
CSK enjoyed a decent start to their innings with Devon Conway (69) and Rachin Ravindra (36) scoring some important runs at the top of the order.
Maxwell had Ravindra stumped just after the powerplay while Ruturaj Gaikwad (1) fell not long after, though some pedestrian fielding from Punjab kept Chennai in the game throughout the second innings.
Conway and Shivam Dube (42) showed some resistance, but the target always seemed out of reach for CSK. Conway was retired out with two overs to go as he failed to connect for the big hits needed.
MS Dhoni (27) landed some of those lusty blows late on to offer a glimmer of hope for the Chennai fans, but he was dismissed in the final over with CSK ending on 201-5, 18 runs short of their target.
Punjab stay in fourth place, jammed with a slate of other teams on six points, while CSK drop to ninth, just one spot above SRH.
Data debrief: Arya joins elite company
Arya scored the joint-fifth fastest century in the history of the IPL against Chennai, getting to his ton in just 39 balls.
This puts him in some elite company, with only Chris Gayle (30 balls vs PWI, 2013), Yusuf Pathan (37 balls vs MI, 2010), and David Miller (38 balls vs RCB, 2013) getting there from fewer deliveries, while Arya matched Travis Head’s fantastic innings from last season (39 balls vs RCB, 2024).
Arya also becomes just the sixth uncapped player to register an IPL century, joining the likes of Shaun Marsh (2008), Manish Pandey (2009), Paul Valthaty (2011), Devdutt Padikkal (2021), Rajat Patidar (2022) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (2023).