Who Is Salil Arora? Punjab Batter Lights Up Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy With An Unbeaten 125

Star Punjab wicketkeeper-batter Salil Arora has suddenly grabbed a lot of attention after he smacked a 45-ball 125 against Jharkhand in a Group A Super League game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which is being played at the DY Patil Academy in Ambi, Pune.

Arora blasted his way to a hundred in just 39 deliveries, making it one of the fastest T20 tons by an Indian batter. With the IPL 2026 mini-auction around the corner, his explosive innings might boost his stock even further, putting him on the radar of several teams.

Riding on Arora’s 125, Punjab posted a whopping 235/6 batting first. In the chase, Jharkhand lost Virat Singh in the third over, before skipper Ishan Kishan and Kumar Kushagra added 60 runs for the second wicket.

Jharkhand soon found

themselves at 100/3, before Kushagra and Anukul Roy added 66 runs for the third wicket. After the latter was dismissed by Sanvir Singh in the 14th over, Kushagra and Pankaj Kumar built a match-winning 71-run partnership to take Jharkhand over the line, as Arora’s hundred went to waste.

Who Is Salil Arora?

Arora made his first-class debut against Madhya Pradesh in October 2024 and scored 101 and 27 in his two innings. He was adjudged Player of the Match on his debut for his efforts that rescued Punjab in the game. He currently has 458 runs from nine first-class games and an average of 41.63.

Arora made his T20 debut against Meghalaya in December 2024 but was dismissed for just one run.

Arora has already shared the Punjab dressing room with top-tier talents like Abhishek Sharma, Naman Dhir, Arshdeep Singh and Prabhsimran Singh, all established IPL names.

With performances like this, Arora could be the next standout from Punjab, poised to make a big impact in the league.

Arora was named in the Indian U19 team led by Dhruv Jurel that travelled to Sri Lanka and won the 2019 U19 Asia Cup.