After Cooper Connolly produced a game-winning fifty on his IPL debut, Punjab Kings bowler Yuzvendra Chahal praised the young Australian batter’s maturity and predicted that he would be one of this season’s “finds.”
In their IPL campaign opener at Mullanpur on Tuesday, Punjab Kings defeated Gujarat Titans by three wickets after the 22-year-old Connolly made a spectacular debut by hitting an undefeated 72.
“He’s only 20 something but has a hunger. The way he performed in his very first match, batting at number 3, playing a match-winning innings, shows how mature he is mentally,” PTI had quoted Chahal as saying after the match.
Connolly showed incredible poise for a newcomer as he entered at number three and remained steady despite wickets falling at the opposite end.
“He knows what the situation is. He knows that if I am there till the end, then I have to finish the game. And that shows maturity. That is a good sign for our team. And the way he is batting, I think he will be one of the finds of this season,” Chahal said.
With figures of 2/28 in his four overs, Chahal himself was a crucial player with the ball. As he exerted pressure in the middle overs, limiting GT to 162/6, his experience was evident.
Speaking about the bowling plans, he said: “Because the wicket was a little slow, we didn’t want to give pace. We wanted to bowl as many cutters as possible. The plan was that if the batsmen hit on longer boundaries, it would be good for us.”
Priyansh Arya (7), skipper Shreyas Iyer (18), Nehal Wadhera (3), Shashank Singh (4), and Marcus Stoinis (0) all failed to make an impression, as Punjab Kings suffered a middle-order collapse despite Connolly’s heroics.
Chahal downplayed the worries, though.
“Every year you have one or two matches like that, and we are lucky that the first match was like that. So, it’s nothing to worry about right now. The way we have been playing since last year, we will go to the ground with the same positive energy and there is a hunger, which we missed last year,” he said.
PBKS are scheduled to take on Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on Friday.
