'Playing with Vaibhav takes pressure off you': Priyansh on batting with Sooryavanshi

New Delhi: Delhi, India A and Punjab Kings batter Priyansh Arya reflected on his time batting with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh as he continues his rise in Indian cricket.

Priyansh has set the IPL on fire in the last two seasons and has also scored runs for India A, including a century against Australia A last year.

Priyansh's strongest format is the T20Is, but with Abhishek, Sooryavanshi and Sanju Samson being India regulars now, even his PBKS partner Prabhsimran remains on the fringes and has not made his debut despite being in the squad for the recent Zimbabwe series. The Delhi batter's road to the senior Indian team remains a bit longer; however, he is putting in the hard yards for India A and will also be featuring in the one-day series against Australia A, which begins on Tuesday.

However, Priyansh looks at this as a healthy competition and aims to learn from the openers. "It's quite chill between all of us because we only focus on performance," Priyansh told the media in Delhi ahead of India A's opening one-dayer against Australia A on Tuesday. "The better you perform, the higher you go in the pecking order. I've batted with Prabhsimran, Abhishek and Vaibhav, and have learnt something from each of them.

"I've played with all of them at one level or the other, and I always watch them while they're training. I try to incorporate some of their methods into my game so I can benefit from them. I like their batting style and intent.

He added that he has enjoyed batting with Sooryavanshi. "For instance, I enjoy playing with Vaibhav because he takes pressure off you by scoring big runs. When he bats, the opposition even starts bowling defensively. This makes batting easier for (his partners) as well. There's great joy in watching Vaibhav bat from the non-striker's end. I just tell him, 'If you're hitting well, just keep hitting.'"

He has batted with Sooryavanshi in the one-day tri-series in Sri Lanka, which also featured Afghanistan A. They played together twice, once against Afghanistan A, where they put up a 75-run stand, and then in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka A, where they made 132 and played a strong part in winning the final for the team.

But Priyansh enjoys batting with Prabhsimran the most. "I have the best bond with Prabh bhai. He has been playing in the IPL for the last seven or eight years, and is a lot more experienced than me.

"He helps me with every little thing, and tells me what each bowler's strengths are. That helps me prepare accordingly for them. If a left-arm spinner comes on in the powerplay, it's me who targets him; while if an off-spinner comes on, it's him. So we try to communicate with each other as best as possible, and target different bowlers," he added.

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