Connolly keeps his cool to settle Punjab’s nerves as they script 3-wicket win over Titans

Punjab Kings overcome mid-match blues, during which they lost four wickets for 10 runs, to begin their season with a three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans at the New International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh on Tuesday night.

The hero for Punjab was Cooper Connolly, who made a smashing IPL debut. He saw his side through a tricky chase even as his teammates were losing their head and wickets. He just hung in there and got the job done.

It is just the fourth match of the IPL 2026 season, but the script has been the same for all the four games. Home side wins the toss, inserts the opposition and chases down whatever target is set.

In the first two matches, the team batting first had put up 200+ scores but they proved insufficient to defend as Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians made short work of their rivals.

Rajasthan Royals too scored a comfortable victory over Chennai Super Kings, who were unable to put up a decent score on the board. However, on Tuesday, Gujarat Titans gave Punjab Kings a run for their money before going down to stay within the limits of the script.

Cooper Connolly kept his composure and steered his side to 165 for seven in 19.1 overs. Connolly remained unbeaten on 72 off 44 balls with five fours and five sixes. Pics: BCCI

Chasing a modest 163 for victory, Punjab lost Impact Player Priyansh Arya (7) with seven on the board. However, Prabhsimran Singh and Connolly added 76 off 49 balls to steady the chase. Both the players went neck-and-neck in the partnership. Connolly got a 25-ball 38 and Prabhsimran got a 24-ball 37.

After Prabhsimran’s fall, Shreyas Iyer joined Connolly and the duo took the score to 110 before Iyer was hit on his right glove by Connolly. His fierce hit off Kagiso Rabada landed on Iyer’s glove at the non-striker’s end. The blow unsettled Iyer as he perished in the next over.

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Impact Player Prasidh Krishna was brought on to bowl the 13th over and he made an instant impact as he got rid of Iyer and followed it up with two more wickets as Punjab lost their bearings. The hosts lost four wickets for 10 runs in 3 overs and the chase was almost derailed.

Connolly remained unbeaten on 72

However, Connolly kept his composure and steered his side to 165 for seven in 19.1 overs. Connolly remained unbeaten on 72 off 44 balls with five fours and five sixes.

“I think we bowled pretty well, we didn’t get going in the last five or six overs (with the bat), it wasn’t a 200 wicket, but if we had 175 it would have been different, but we kept losing wickets and we couldn’t get going in the last five overs. Once the ball got older it was difficult to hit down the ground, there was no pace on the wicket. When we were bowling, with the rain coming down it did not stop as much in the second innings, however, we did well with the bowling,” said Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill.

Prasidh Krishna took three for 29 to queer the pitch for Punjab Kings

“I could have got Prasidh on earlier, but we were in the game until the end, there will always be ifs and buts. Ashok bowled pretty well up front and in the back, as he plays more and gets more experience he will be of value for us. He works very hard on his game, he’s a good fielder for us, I met him at a camp a couple of months ago and was very impressed,” Gill added.

Titans fail to make use of slog overs

Earlier, Gujarat Titans failed to make the slog overs count and that made all the difference. Titans began well with the partnerships for the first three wicket yielding 37, 46 and 36 respectively. But they were unable to really break free from the Punjab shackles.

Gill got 29, Jos Buttler made 38 and Glenn Phillips scored 25 but none of them really got on top of the Punjab attack.

Even with all those extras in Arshdeep’s epic last over, Titans only managed a poor 31 in the final overs due to lack of batting depth. There were no sixes struck in the last seven overs.

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Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 162 for six in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 39, Jos Buttler 38, Glenn Phillips 25; Vyshak Vijaykumar 3/34, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/28) lost to Punjab Kings 165 for seven in 19.1 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 37, Cooper Connolly 72 not out, Shreyas Iyer 18; Prasidh Krishna 3/29).