IPL 2025: Excited to meet Shreyas Iyer as I love his attitude, says Priyansh Arya

"I am really excited to meet head coach Ricky Ponting. I love his pull shot. Apart from that, I am also excited to meet Shreyas. I love his attitude and the way he walks. I have never met Shreyas earlier. I think he is a great leader, he has won IPL and all domestic trophies as a captain. So I feel he is the best leader," said Arya in a franchise statement on Saturday.

In last year's meg auction in Jeddah, Punjab roped in Arya for a whopping Rs 3.8 crore, especially after he became the leading run-scorer in the inaugural Delhi Premier League (DPL) tournament by amassing 608 runs in ten innings for South Delhi Superstarz.

But his moment of limelight came when he hit six sixes in the 'V' while hitting 120 against North Delhi Strikers and becoming the fourth Indian cricketer to do so. Arya revealed that after he achieved the feat, he got a special message from India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav.

"After three sixes, I believed that I could hit six sixes as well, as my partner Ayush Badoni was hitting four to five sixes in an over, in every match. After I did so, Suryakumar Yadav messaged me and said that my batting was total entertainment and asked me to keep believing in myself. It was quite motivating for me."

Arya, 24, went unsold in the 2024 IPL auction, but on being picked by Punjab for the 2025 season, he felt happy. "I felt bad about not being selected. This year, again, I had a lot of expectations from the auctions but I was not thinking about it and was focused on Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 matches. After I was picked by Punjab Kings, I was elated but could not celebrate much as I continued to focus on the tournaments. I will surely celebrate soon."