A brilliant knock from Cooper Connolly has set up Punjab Kings’ thrilling three-wicket victory against Gujarat Titans, played on March 31 at Mullanpur.
He went on to smash an unbeaten 72* runs off 44 deliveries during the sides’ chase on Tuesday’s clash. Punjab Kings sealed their first win and secured fourth spot in the IPL 2026 points table.
After being invited to bat first, Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill opened the innings while Arshdeep Singh opened the bowling attack.
Despite a decent start, Sai Sudharsan got dismissed for 13 runs by Marco Jansen. With Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler at the crease, the Gujarat Titans scored 54 runs in the power play.
Yuzvendra Chahal bagged the wicket of Shubman Gill for 39 runs. After Gill’s departure, Jos Buttler and Glenn Phillips tried to forge the innings, but Vijaykumar Vyshak bagged the wicket of Phillips for 25 runs.
With the Gujarat Titans’ run flow restricted, Yuzvendra Chahal bagged the wicket of Jos Buttler for 38 runs.
Vijaykumar Vyshak bagged his second wicket, dismissing Washington Sundar for 18 runs. Vyshak bagged his third wicket for 4 runs.
The debutant seals it in style! 💪@PunjabKingsIPL clinch a thriller in New Chandigarh to get their campaign going with a win ❤️
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/75rCxTCOL1#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #PBKSvGT pic.twitter.com/WqBQNjuvA1
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 31, 2026
With Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan at the crease, the Gujarat Titans went on to score 162 runs in their 20-over innings.
Vijaykumar Vyshak bagged three wickets, while Yuzvendra Chahal bagged two wickets, and Marco Jansen completed his spell with a one-wicket.
Chasing 163 run target, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh opened the innings while Mohammed Siraj opened the bowling attack.
With Rabada dismissing Priyansh Arya for 7 runs, Cooper Connolly came to bat and joined Prabhsimran in the chase as Punjab Kings scored 55 runs in the powerplay.
Rashid Khan bagged the wicket of Prabhsimran for 37 runs, and Shreyas Iyer, who came to bat, hit two sixes before getting his hand from a shot from Cooper Connolly.
With a brief break, Iyer continued to bat and got dismissed by Prasidh Krishna. The middle order Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis and Marco Jansen got dismissed cheaply as Gujarat Titans put up a tough fight.
On the other hand, Cooper Connolly went on to slam his fifty and continued to bat, aiming to complete the chase. Playing along with Xavier Bartlett, Connolly went on to complete the chase in the final over of the innings.
Punjab Kings will play their next game against Chennai Super Kings on April 03 at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
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