Punjab Kings chased down 163 to beat Gujarat Titans by three wickets in IPL 2026, with debutant Cooper Connolly starring with an unbeaten 72 in New Chandigarh.
PC: Cooper Connolly_ipl_x
Punjab Kings pulled off a tense three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans, successfully chasing down 163 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh on March 31.
The chase was anchored by a superb unbeaten 72 from debutant Cooper Connolly, who held his nerve despite a mid-innings collapse to guide PBKS home with five balls to spare.
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Punjab began cautiously but suffered an early setback when Priyansh Arya was dismissed for 7 by Kagiso Rabada. However, Prabhsimran Singh (37 off 24) and Connolly counterattacked brilliantly, taking on the GT bowlers to power PBKS to 55/1 at the end of the powerplay.
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Indian Premier League 2026 | Punjab Kings (165/7) in 19.1 overs beat Gujarat Titans (162) by 3 wickets at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, New Chandigarh#IPL2026 #PBKSvsGT #IPL #CricketNews
[IPL 2026, PBKS vs GT, Punjab Kings, IPL match] pic.twitter.com/e8DXWzVfk6
— The Statesman (@TheStatesmanLtd) March 31, 2026
The innings, however, took a dramatic turn in the middle overs. Rashid Khan dismissed Prabhsimran to break the stand before Prasidh Krishna triggered a collapse. The pacer removed Shreyas Iyer (18) and struck twice in quick succession to dismiss Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis, leaving PBKS in trouble at 121/6.
Despite the setbacks, Connolly held firm and took charge of the chase. With the required rate climbing, Xavier Bartlett played a crucial cameo, scoring an unbeaten 11 off just five balls, including a vital six in the 19th over.
Connolly brought up his half-century in 34 balls and finished the game in style, striking the winning boundary off Washington Sundar in the final over to seal a memorable victory.
Earlier, Gujarat Titans posted 162/6 after being put in to bat, with regular wickets in the middle and death overs preventing them from pushing towards a bigger total.
GT made a flying start through Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, racing to 35/0 in just three overs before Marco Jansen dismissed Sudharsan for 13.
Gill anchored the innings alongside Jos Buttler, adding 46 runs for the second wicket, but PBKS pulled things back in the middle overs.
The breakthrough came when Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Gill for 39, halting GT’s progress. Glenn Phillips chipped in with a quick 25 but couldn’t convert it into a bigger score.
Punjab tightened their grip in the death overs, with Vijaykumar Vyshak picking up three key wickets, including Washington Sundar and Shahrukh Khan, as GT were restricted to 162/6.
Punjab Kings:
Shreyas Iyer (c), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Gujarat Titans:
Shubman Gill (c), Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Ashok Sharma, Mohammed Siraj
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