Match Details

vs

Last Wicket: Marco Jansen c Shubman Gill b Ashok Sharma 9(10) - 144/7 in 17.4 ov.

CRR: 8.61

All four matches this IPL have been won by the home team while batting second. While the first three were clinical run-chases, the chasing team was put under pressure today. Another closely fought PBKS-GT encounter and it was debutant Connolly who played a gem of an innings. On that note, it's time to bring the curtains down on this contest. The action moves to Lucknow tomorrow where LSG will host Delhi Capitals. Until next time, it's goodbye.

Cooper Connolly | Player of the Match: (Easy tournament?) 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, spend 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. Working with Ricky has been great. Just some slight tweaks have helped me out over these first five days. But 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. And, 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.

Shreyas Iyer | Punjab Kings captain: (On his hand injury) 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, it was 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. (On the bowling) 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.

PBKS-GT contest in IPL
GT won
PBKS won
GT won
PBKS won
GT won
PBKS won
PBKS won*

Highest scores on IPL debut innings
158* - B McCullum (KKR) vs RCB, 2008
116* - Michael Hussey (CSK) vs KXIP, 2008
84* - Shaun Marsh (KXIP) vs Deccan, 2008
73 - Kyle Mayers (LSG) vs DC, 2023
72* - Cooper Connolly (PBKS) vs GT, 2026*

Slower ones by innings today
PBKS quicks: 1/22 (21 balls)
GT quicks: 1/3 (6 balls)

- Punjab Kings have won their season-opening game for the sixth consecutive year since 2021.

Xavier Bartlett: Yeah, it probably a bit of luck, to be honest. I tried to set myself up coming out there with Coops, you know, at the other end, who was hitting it pretty well, and he just said, you know, if you see the ball in the area, try and go after it, and you know, lucky enough, it came off. Yeah, obviously you know trying to take my fielding and grew up playing Australian rules football back home, so you know, a bit of a mark in the goal square there and hopefully went back and kicked the goal. But it was great to get the win tonight in front of the home crowd. No, I don’t know about that. Just lucky it stuck. It’s just one of those ones that stuck. So, yeah, pretty happy with it. Yeah, it was obviously nice to come out here. First game of the tournament. It started off really strong off the back end of last year. It started off in a winning way, especially in front of our home crowd. It’s a really nice feeling.

Shubman Gill | Gujarat Titans Captain: 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. As for Ashok (Sharma), 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. (on what he'd say to his team after today's defeat).

17:53 GMT, 23:23 IST: Punjab Kings start their campaign with a win at their home ground. Priyansh Arya got off the mark with a maximum but Rabada nipped him out with a pacy short ball. Cooper Connolly walked in to join Prabhsimran Singh and the pair batted aggressively. It started with an assault against Rabada where they smashed three sixes in an over and boundaries kept coming at regular intervals. Rashid ended the 76-run partnership when Prabhsimran holed out. Connolly, on IPL debut, meanwhile carried on. Some of his sixes looked effortless. Shreyas Ier got going with a couple of sixes off Ashok and the run-chase looked like a cakewalk for the hosts. But just like the first innings, there was a stutter. Prasidh, introduced in the 13th over, removed Shreyas with his first ball and Punjab suddenly slipped from 110/2 to 118/6 as Wadhera, Shashank and Stoinis departed cheaply. Connolly notched up a 34-ball fifty with a boundary and calmed the nerves in the PBKS camp with a six off Rabada. Jansen too hit a six but he struggled after that and was eventually deceived by Ashok. With 16 needed off the last two overs with just 3 wickets in hand, the game was on knife-edge. But Prasidh's final over went for 14 runs, courtesy Bartlett's four and Connolly's six. And then the young Aussie, who batted flawlessly, hit the winning runs.

Washington Sundar to Cooper Connolly, FOUR, Cooper Connolly fittingly hits the winning runs! On IPL debut, the 22-year-old Australian has played a fantastic knock to take his team home. A non-turning flat length ball on the stumps, Connolly backs away and opens the bat-face to force it through the covers. He's timed the ball beautifully throughout the innings and he caps off the same way. The ball reaches the fence and Punjab Kings win by 3 wickets

Just 2 runs needed off the final over. The well-set Connolly is on strike and it's going to be a spinner to bowl..

End of Over 0: N/A runs, N/A wkts

Prasidh Krishna to Cooper Connolly, 1 run, yorker length, jammed down to long-on for a single. 14 runs off the penultimate over

Prasidh Krishna to Xavier Bartlett, 1 run, short outside off, Bartlett pulls it to deep midwicket who takes it on the bounce

Prasidh Krishna to Cooper Connolly, 1 run, low full toss, pushed towards cover for a single

Prasidh Krishna to Cooper Connolly, FOUR, round the wicket, short ball on leg-stump line, pace off as well. Connolly swivels to pull and gets enough wood to clear short fine leg

Prasidh Krishna to Xavier Bartlett, 1 run, fuller length, Bartlett push-drives to the right of extra cover and a diving Rabada can't stop it cleanly. The batters take the single

Gill has his hands on hips as he has a word with Prasidh. A slight hold-up in play as the ball is being replaced