In the <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/photo/ipl-2026-cooper-connolly-joins-likes-of-brendon-mccullum-michael-hussey-after-blistering-knock-against-gt-110392/1" rel="nofollow">IPL 2026</a> match against Gujarat Titans (GT), Punjab Kings (PBKS) emerged victorious by three wickets at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh.
Having put to bat first, Gujarat posted a total of 162 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs. Later during the run chase, Punjab scored 165 runs by losing seven wickets in 19.1 overs.
In the second essay of the game, PBKS' Cooper Connolly delivered a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 72 runs off 44 deliveries, laced with five boundaries and the same number of maximums.
Speaking about his debut, he said that legendary Australian captain <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/ipl-2026-ricky-ponting-urges-pbks-to-draw-confidence-from-last-year-23622317" rel="nofollow">Ricky Ponting</a> helped him stay calm before the match. He also said that the former cricketer told him to go and dominate against the opposition.
"I woke up in the morning with a little bit of nerves, which I was really happy about, but yeah, I was really looking forward to getting out there and playing my part the best, I can. Ricky Ponting just kept me calm and collected. He told me to play my game, go out there and dominate. It was a nice team performance. We were very strong with the ball and made things easier for ourselves. It was a really good day for us," he said on JioHotstar.
Further speaking about playing alongside <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/ipl-2026-shubman-gill-shreyas-iyer-lead-gujarat-titans-punjab-kings-in-high-stakes-clash-23623386" rel="nofollow">Shreyas Iyer</a>, the Australian hailed him as a "world class player".
"I was looking forward to spending time out in the middle with Shreyas Iyer and just sort of picking his brains a little bit. He&rsquo;s a world-class player. I&rsquo;ve played a little bit of cricket with him for Australia A and Australia. He is a great player for a reason, and hopefully, I can learn as much as I can," said Connolly.
Connolly also registered his name as the fifth-highest individual scorer on an IPL debut.
PBKS will now clash against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 3 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
<h2>IPL 2026, Punjab Kings: Full Squad</h2>
Marcus Stoinis, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shashank Singh, Praveen Dubey, Lockie Ferguson, Shreyas Iyer, Ben Dwarshuis, Vishnu Vinod (WK), Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vyshak Vijay Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Harpreet Brar, Priyansh Arya, Suryansh Shedge, Cooper Conolly, Mitchell Owen, Pyla Avinash, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Vishal Nishad.

IPL 2026: PBKS` Cooper Connolly delivered a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 72 runs off 44 deliveries, laced with five boundaries and same number of maximums

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PBKS' Cooper Connolly delivered a match-winning knock of an unbeaten 72 runs off 44 deliveries, laced with five boundaries and the same number of maximums

'I woke up in the morning with a little bit of nerves...': Connolly on debut

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