The Punjab Kings (PBKS) hosted the Gujarat Titans (GT) for their IPL 2026 opening game on March 31, 2026. This game was played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh.
Shreyas Iyer, PBKS captain, won the toss and chose to bowl first. Shubman Gill (39), Jos Buttler (38), and Glenn Phillips (25) all got starts but couldn’t go on to make a big score. GT only managed 162/6 in 20 overs. For PBKS, Vijaykumar Vyshak took 3/34, and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets.
PBKs lost Priyansh Arya for 7 runs, but Prabhsimran Singh (37) and IPL debutant Cooper Connolly added 76 runs in little more than 8 overs. Rashid Khan cut short Singh’s brilliant knock, comprising of one four and four sixes.
Connolly continued at one end, while wickets fell at the other end, with Shreyas Iyer falling for 18 runs. In the end, it came very close, but Connolly’s 72* in 44 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes, and some lusty blows by Marco Jansen and Xavier Bartlett, ensured PBKS won the game by 3 wickets. Prasidh Krishna, with 3/29, was the pick of the GT bowlers.
The cricket fraternity was all praiseful of Cooper Connolly’s amazing batting and lauded the 22-year-old’s brilliant game awareness.
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