KOLKATA, APRIL 1,2026: Cooper Connolly played a glorious knock in his debut match in the Indian Premier League and secured the victory by 3 wickets for PBKS(Punjab Kings) in a power-packed, intense match against GT(Gujarat Titans). They starts their campaign for this season IPL 2026 with a positive note. Last year’s finalists PBKS against GT both played their first and the season’s fourth match today at Punjab’s home ground, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh.
After ending as runners-up last season, this year PBKS came back this season with great captain Shreyas Iyer and a very similar squad with a few changes. These changes brought a big impact in today’s thrilling match against GT to win the match on their home ground. Both team skippers were dropped by BCCI for the T20 World Cup 2026 squad, and fans are interested to see Iyer and Shubman Gill come back in this T20 format. Shreyas Iyer scored 604 runs at a 175 strike rate and Shubman Gill scored 650 runs at 155.87; both performed exceptionally and were key players for their teams last season.
Today’s match started with the toss won by PBKS, and they chose to bowl first. The captain and last year’s Orange Cap winner opened the match for the Titans. Sudharsan got out early in the powerplay, caught by Shreyas Iyer and bowled by Marco Jansen after scoring 13 runs in 11 balls. Jos Buttler came at third drop and made a decent partnership with Gill. Gill got out, caught by Cooper Connolly and bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal after playing a decent innings of 39 in 27 balls. Then Glenn Phillips came to bat and got out, caught by Johnson and bowled by Vijaykumar Vyshak. At this point, it felt like the Titans could score at least above 200, but then wickets dropped one by one in the middle overs due to good bowling by PBKS bowlers and fielders. Buttler made 38 in 33, Washington Sundar scored 18 off 16, Shahrukh Khan made 4 in 6, and Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan ended the innings at 162/6. PBKS bowlers did a great job slowing down the score, though Arshdeep gave away some extras.
The second innings started with last season’s opening duo, Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya. Arya got out in the very second over, caught by Ashok Sharma and bowled by Rabada, scoring 7 in 8 balls. Then came Cooper Connolly at third drop. Prabhsimran Singh and Connolly gave a good start and built a solid partnership in the run chase. Prabhsimran got out after scoring 37 in 24 runs, dismissed by Rashid Khan. Then captain Iyer came and started well, but after a few balls, he got hurt on his right hand from the non-striker’s side while trying to protect himself from a shot by Connolly. After some medical help, he continued his batting but got dismissed by Prasidh Krishna, who came as an impact player and took his wicket on his very first ball. Iyer scored 18 in 11. Then Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, and Marco Jansen all got out quickly after coming to bat. PBKS lost 4 wickets in just 20 balls for only 12 runs. Prasidh Krishna, last season’s Purple Cap winner, took 3 wickets in 4 overs giving 29 runs and made a huge impact in the match. Ashok Sharma also took 1 wicket in his debut IPL match. The match situation became crucial and more intense after PBKS lost wickets early. Between victory for GT and PBKS, Cooper Connolly stood as a hope for PBKS. The 22-year-old Australian young player, debuting this IPL season, played a splendid knock of 72 in 44 balls, which became the reason for PBKS’s win. Xavier Bartlett scored 11 in 5, which supported Connolly. GT bowlers also did great, but the Titans could have brought Prasidh Krishna earlier as an impact player, which might have helped them more.
Both teams will face off on 3rd May in their next match against each other at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, GT’s home ground. It will be interesting to see how GT looks to take revenge against PBKS after this loss.
