Punjab Kings have started their campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 with a win. This team won against Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets in the match played at Maharaja Yadvinder Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Tuesday. For Kings, Cooper Connolly played a stormy inning of 72 not out in 44 balls.
After losing the toss and opting to bat, Gujarat Titans scored 162 runs losing 6 wickets. Sai Sudarshan made a partnership of 37 runs in 3.4 overs for the first wicket with captain Shubhman Gill. Sudarshan returned to the pavilion after scoring 13 runs, after which Gill along with Jos Buttler strengthened the team by scoring 46 runs for the second wicket.
Gill returned to the pavilion after scoring 39 runs in 27 balls with 6 fours. From here, Jos Buttler added 36 runs with Glenn Phillips and took the team beyond the century mark. Butler was out after scoring 38 runs and Phillips was out after scoring 25 runs. Apart from these, Washington Sundar contributed 18 runs to the team’s account.
From the opposition camp, Vijaykumar Vaishak took maximum 3 wickets, while Yuzvendra Chahal took 2 wickets. Marco Jansen took 1 wicket.
In response, Punjab Kings won in 19.1 overs. This team had lost the wicket of Priyansh Arya (7) on the score of 7. From here, Cooper Connolly made a partnership of 76 runs in 49 balls with Prabhsimran Singh for the second wicket, taking the team to the score of 83.
Prabhasimran was out after scoring 37 runs in 24 balls with 4 sixes and 1 four, after which Connolly took the lead. He along with captain Shreyas Iyer (18) scored 27 runs for the third wicket. After this, wickets kept falling at regular intervals at the other end, but Connolly continued to hold the lead.
Meanwhile, he also made a partnership of 26 runs with Marco Jansen (9) and 21 runs with Xavier Bartlett (11 not out). Cooper remained unbeaten after scoring 72 runs in 44 balls with the help of 5 sixes and as many fours. Prasidh Krishna took 3 wickets from the opposition camp. Apart from these, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Rashid Khan and Washington Sundar took 1 wicket each.
