IPL 2026: Punjab Kings beat Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets as Cooper Connolly smashes 72

Punjab Kings (PBKS) pulled off a tense 3-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans (GT) in a closely fought IPL 2026 encounter. The IPL match between GT and PBKS saw an exhilarating battle, with Gujarat Titans posting a total of 162 runs in their innings after being put into bat by Punjab Kings. Following this, Cooper Connolly provided a spectacular performance for the Kings by scoring 75 runs in 54 balls as the Kings lost their wickets frequently but continued to chase down the target of 163 runs. Connolly played with great poise throughout the innings as he was able to maintain his team's lead in an exciting match that kept fans engaged until the very end.

In the first innings of this match, Gujarat Titans scored 162 runs in their allotted 20 overs with major contributions from Shubman Gill and Jos Butler scoring 39 and 38 runs respectively. Although Gujarat had an excellent start during their powerplay, the team could not capitalize on this strong base during the middle overs of their innings. Punjab bowlers, particularly Vyshak (3 wickets) and Chahal (2 wickets), did a fantastic job in restricting the total runs being scored by Gujarat in those middle overs and in their last few overs. They both also took wickets at critical times during those last few overs thereby taking away the scoring momentum from the Titans.

At one stage, it looked as if the Titans were going to get a much higher score due to the standard of their batting before changing their approach in bowling and fielding when it came to bringing the run rate down. Marco Jansen's wicket and bowling were also important in bringing the score down. In addition to working well as a unit, extras played a role in bringing down the total that Punjab managed to keep score wise in an even game as on a balanced pitch.

See Also: Watch: Cooper Connolly smashes massive 103m six off Rashid Khan in PBKS vs GT IPL 2026 clash

Connolly Leads PBKS' nerve-wracking chase

The Punjab Kings got off to a rocky start chasing down a target of 170 by losing several wickets in the early stages, especially Priyansh Arya who was dismissed cheap. However, after that, Prabhsimran Singh came to the crease and counterattacked by scoring a quickfire 37, taking the momentum into the next phase of the game as it was a very different game when Cooper Connolly came to bat at five; he played in a very different style to the previous batters. Connolly hit 72 off 44 balls with a combination of runs being scored in both assortment of hit boundaries and explosive style, which kept the innings going even when wickets were being taken at the other end. Connolly also showed maturity beyond his age and had good command of the game and paced himself well through difficult situations.

Even though Punjab lost their star batter Shreyas Iyer and the explosive all-rounder Marcus Stoinis very quickly during the match, they managed to stay calm and perform well. The Gujarat Titans bowlers, especially the fantastic Prasidh Krishna (who took 3 wickets), were very threatening and seemed to support their teams' attempts to beat Punjab; however, Prasidh could not do anything about the indomitable Connolly's ability to keep the run rate at an acceptable level. Due in large part to the great late innings performance by Xavier Bartlett, Punjab was able to continue their IPL 2021's success by winning the match with five balls left in the match to be played in the opening of IPL 2022 by defeating the Gujurat Titans.