Last Updated on April 1, 2026 by Yash Saini
All four matches in this IPL have been won by the home teams with batting second. The first three matches were clinical run-chases. Today, the chasing team was put under pressure. Another close encounter between PBKS and GT, and it was debutant Connolly who played a crucial innings of unbeaten 72 runs in just 44 balls and helped PBKS win their first match at
Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, New Chandigarh.
While batting first, the Gujarat Titans have scored 162 runs. Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill made a partnership of 46(35). Vijaykumar Vyshak took 3 wickets and conceded only 34 with an average of 8.50. While chasing debutant Cooper Connolly, make sure that PBKS wins their first match. He scored an unbeaten 72 runs in just 44 balls with a strike rate of 163.64. His innings include 5 sixes and 5 fours. He won the player of the match award too.
Cooper Connolly Post Match Statement
As per Cricbuzz, when he was asked Is the tournament easy? ” He replied, ” No, I didn’t think about that coming in. I was just looking forward to getting the experience of playing with some world class players. And to put on a show tonight was nice. But it’s a team performance, we played as a team tonight, and that’s all we speak about. (Coming into the tournament) It’s just a bit of a refresh. I had a couple of weeks at home, just a refresh and reset, and spent some time with family and friends. And that was probably the point where I changed, and it was just like, yeah, okay, I’m just gonna reset, and I’m gonna go into the IPL fresh. (On his six-hitting) It’s slightly different for me. I’m just more of a tempo player. I like to sort of get a feel of the flow in my hands. I don’t try to hit too many big sixes.”
He further added. “Working with Ricky has been great. Just some slight tweaks have helped me out over these first five days. But I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament. (During the mini-collapse) To be honest, not a lot was said. It was sort of relaxed out there. We still felt like we were in a really good position to win the game. Marco was pretty calm, so was Xavier. I spent a lot of time with Xavier, so it’s sort of nice to spend a bit of time with him and get a win. He had a massive smile on his face. Looking forward to the rest of the tournament. (On his duel against Rashid) That is the first time I’ve played him. I just started to sort of spend some time out in the middle and I was enjoying it. But, nice for the team to get a win. And yeah, looking forward to the rest of the tournament.”
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Both Captain Post Match Responses
Shreyas Iyer replied when asked about his hand injury, he said: “All I can say, it’s nice. It’s the same as it was before. I don’t want to jinx anything. I just want to stay positive and hopefully everything comes out right. (On Connolly’s knock) Some of the shots that he played were surreal to watch. It was unbelievable. The back foot six off Rashid, one of the best bowlers in the IPL, to hit him so clearly and neatly, it was simply phenomenal. (On the mini-collapse) Honestly speaking, I was focused on my hand inside, icing it and then suddenly we lost two wickets back-to-back. These things happen in the IPL and you have to remain calm and composed in such situations. So the message was pretty simple. Just take the game to the end and Cooper was there. He was pretty much set. And he’s got a great awareness as a player. I’ve seen him in the past as well, playing for Australia. He’s got a great mindset and hopefully he continues with the same form.”
Also, when asked about the bowling unit, he replied, “I think after the third over, we realized that the wicket is playing a bit slow. Arshdeep instantly came and said that it’s holding a bit. So we decided that we’ll try to make the ball old as quickly as possible and just bowl slow and stick to the wicket and it really helped us. (On Vyshak) He’s carrying forward the form that he performed in the final last season. And he’s a big match player. I’ve seen the confidence that he possesses, and it is phenomenal to see him come in the big game and deliver straight in match one. So it’s a great positive. I feel that we need to carry this momentum going forward in the tournament, and hopefully things pan out pretty well. (Surprised on seeing a short leg in place when he walked out to bat?) Yeah, I was actually. I just told Shubman that that was something that I’ve never experienced before, but it’s good. It’s good to see captains becoming aggressive.”
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Shubman Gill replied on the bowling performance and said, ” I think we bowled pretty well, but I think we just didn’t get going in the last five or six overs, I’d say. Batting, it never looked like a 210-220 wicket. But I think if we would have had maybe 175, 180 was the target in the middle. Once the ball got older, it was difficult to hit it down the ground. In the second innings, rain continued, making the ball wet, which slightly improved batting conditions. So I don’t think it stopped as much in the second innings. But nonetheless, I think we did a decent job. We kept the pressure on. I could’ve (on delaying Prasidh’s introduction), but he came at the right time, took wickets and kept us in the game until the 17th and 18th over. All ifs and buts, but at that time, we thought, you know, with the wicket going a little bit slow, maybe a bowler who’s quick and skinny might get us a few wickets. And he was bowling pretty well in the nets. So that was the thought process behind it.”
When asked about Ashok Sharma, he said, ” He works hard on the game, he’s a good find for us. He bowled pretty well up front, and I think in the back, he’s definitely someone that, you know, I think as he keeps playing more matches and keeps getting more experience, he’ll be very valuable for us. He’s someone who works very hard, you know, on his game and is a pretty good fielder for us. And I actually met him during the camp a couple of months ago and I was very impressed by the way he was bowling with the new ball as well. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance in some of the matches to show some of his skills with the new ball. Well done, boys. Hard luck and it wasn’t the game for us, but I think we did decently well. It’s just, you know, keep getting better and keep adding more intensity and keep giving your best.”
Also Read: Ayush Mhatre Net Worth 2026: IPL Salary, Income, Career, Age, Family and Biography
Overall, Connolly helped Punjab Kings win their first against the Gujarat Titans and started their IPL 2026 campaign with a bang.
