Punjab Kings batter Cooper Connolly said that head coach Ricky Ponting encouraged him to dominate while he anticipated learning from skipper Shreyas Iyer during his IPL debut against the Gujarat Titans.
In his maiden IPL outing, Connolly scored a match-winning 72 not out (44 balls; 5 fours, 5 sixes) to help Punjab Kings get off to a winning start in IPL 2026 on Tuesday at Mullanpur.
“I woke up in the morning with a little bit of nerves, which I was really happy about. I was really looking forward to getting out there and playing my part the best I can,” PTI quoted Connolly telling JioStar.
“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.”
“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’s a world-class player. I’ve played a little bit of cricket with (against) him for Australia A and Australia. He is a great player for a reason, and hopefully, I can learn as much as I can.”
The 22-year-old southpaw claimed that Shaun Marsh, a former Australian and PBKS player, is his inspiration.
“It was a nice moment when I got picked up. Shaun Marsh was the first person I spoke to about it and he gave me some good words. Growing up, I played at Western Australia with him for a long period of time and he has always been good to me. I looked up to him as a mentor and an idol,” Connolly said.
The Gujarat Titans’ most successful bowler from the previous season, Prasidh Krishna, was brought on late in the assault, which surprised India spin great Anil Kumble.
Prasidh returned with 4-0-29-3 bowling figures, but the Titans still lost despite his late spell.
“It was very surprising that the Titans brought in Prasidh Krishna, the Purple Cap holder (in IPL 2025), only in the 13th over,” Kumble said.
“… that short length troubled all batters throughout the game and Prasidh found that very early in his spell. But he was brought in too late in the innings. You rarely have a bowler bowl all four overs in the last eight overs of the innings.
“You can’t hold him back like that, and that’s why the last over of Prasidh Krishna went for 14 runs. For GT’s sake, Prasidh should have possibly bowled at least one over between the sixth and 10th overs, because he was ideally suited to that surface,” Kumble added.
Regarding Yuzvendra Chahal, who produced excellent bowling figures of 4-0-28-2, Kumble stated that the seasoned leg-spinner made astute adjustments during his spells.
“He didn’t try too many variations in terms of how he set up the batter. He kept bowling slightly wider and was very smart in that sense. He looked at the conditions and then aimed for the bigger side of the ground.”
“He knew that if someone had to take him on that side, they had to connect really well, which they couldn’t. Those wickets of Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler came at the right time for Punjab Kings, because Gill was looking good to capitalise on a strong start,” he added.
