The Punjab Kings defeated the Gujarat Titans in their first game in the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League on the back of some solid bowling and a fine batting performance by IPL debutant Cooper Connolly.
The PBKS Vs GT game was Match 4 of IPL 2026. The game was played at the PCA New Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh. The home team won the toss and decided to bowl first on a pitch that had some movement early on.
Punjab Kings Beat Gujarat Titans By 3 Wickets
GT’s opening duo of Sai Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill, who lit the league on fire last season, gave their team a decent start. The pair took the score to 35 in the first three overs before, in the fourth, Sudharsan mistimed a delivery by Marco Jansen and was caught at mid-off for 13 off 11.
With Jos Buttler coming in at number 3, the run rate definitely dipped, but not too much, seeing the score at the end of the powerplay was 54/1.
The two former Orange Cap winners kept the scoreboard chugging on, hitting a few boundaries here and there. By the time Gill fell victim to Yuzvendra Chahal at 39 out of 27, the team score was 83/2.
Glenn Phillips at number 4 came in with the intention of striking the ball and scoring quickly. His wicket fell at the end of the 14th over, by which time he had made 25 runs in 17 balls.
While wickets fell on one end, Jos Buttler struggled at the other. His wicket came in the 16th over, becoming Chahal’s second of the night. At the point of his dismissal, the Englishman had taken 33 balls to score just 38 runs.
Check Out: Punjab Kings Beat Gujarat Titans By 3 Wickets
At 131/4 at the end of the 16th over, GT needed some quick runs to take them to a respectable score. That did not happen. Washington Sundar made a run-a-ball 18, Shahrukh Khan made four off six, and Rahul Tewatia was not out at 11 off 10. The Titans ended their innings at 162/6.
It seemed like an easy target for last season’s runner-ups in this PBKS vs GT game. However, opener Priyansh Arya was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada in the second over after he made seven runs. This wicket was followed by a solid partnership between Prabhsimran Singh and number 3 batter Cooper Connolly, who was making his IPL debut.
The pair made 76 runs together in about eight overs. By the time Prabhsimran was dismissed by Rasid Khan in the 10th over for 37 off 24, the team score was 83/2.
The next batter was captain Shreyas Iyer at number 4, who was excellent as a skipper and a batter last season. However, today was not his day. After getting a decent start, Iyer was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna on the first ball of the 13th over, with the score being 110/3 at this point.
The Punjab Kings’ middle-order failed today. Nehal Wadhera made three off six, Shashank Singh scored four off four, and Marcus Stoinis got out with a two-ball duck, while Marco Jansen made nine off 10.
While wickets fell like a house of cards at one end, Connolly not only stayed on the other end of the crease but also scored runs at a fine strike rate. By the time Jansen got out in the 18th over, PBKS needed 16 off 14.
Xavier Bartlett made a quickfire 11 off five at the end while Connolly took the team home with a four on the first ball of the final over, ending his inning not out at 72 off 44.
Punjab defeated the Gujarat Titans in today’s match by three wickets with five balls left. For his match-saving performance with the bat, Cooper Connolly was named the Player of the Match. Meanwhile, Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yuzi Chahal were other standouts for Punjab, taking three and two wickets respectively.
The Kings will take on the Chennai Super Kings in their next game, while the Titans will face the Rajasthan Royals in their next game in the biggest T20 league in the world.
Check Out: Punjab Kings Beat Gujarat Titans By 3 Wickets
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