On the basis of 182-run partnership between Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly, Punjab Kings (PBKS) won by 54 runs against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 29th match of IPL 2026 on Sunday. Captain Iyer has revealed that he does not tell Priyansh and Connolly how to play their innings.
After the victory, Shreyas Iyer, as captain, praised the team’s performance and said that the batsmen played exceptionally well and some of the shots were surprising. He said that playing such shots requires a lot of courage and patience.
Iyer told that he was jokingly talking to Cooper and Priyansh Arya about who would hit the most sixes this season, and both the players are ready for this challenge. He said, “I was just talking to Cooper and Priyansh, we were challenging each other as to who will hit the most sixes this season, they are ready for it. When you just let them play their way, let them go on the field and express themselves freely, then they perform well. I don’t tell them how to play their innings. They have their own routine and method. Ricky (Ponting) talks to them before the match and so do I. I give my opinion, that’s all.”
On the bowling unit, Iyer said that most of the bowlers in the team are of international level and their performance speaks for itself. According to him, the secret of success is only proper execution. The captain says that whenever the team makes its plans after looking at the wicket, it gives a lot of confidence and satisfaction to the players.
In this match played at Maharaja Yadvendra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, Punjab Kings, who came to bat first, scored 254 runs losing 7 wickets. This team had lost the wicket of Prabhsimran Singh (0) on the score of just 3. After this, Priyansh Arya made a partnership of 182 runs in 80 balls with Cooper Connolly for the second wicket and brought the team towards a huge score.
Cooper Connolly was out after scoring 87 runs in 46 balls with 7 sixes and 8 fours, while Priyansh scored 93 runs in 37 balls with 9 sixes and 4 fours. Apart from these, Marcus Stoinis contributed 29 runs. From the opposition camp, Prince Yadav and Manimaran Siddharth took 2 wickets each.
In response, Lucknow Super Giants could score only 200 runs after losing 5 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. In this innings, captain Rishabh Pant played an inning of 43 runs in 23 balls, while Aiden Markram contributed 42 runs to the team’s account. Apart from these, Mitchell Marsh scored 40 runs. Marco Jansen achieved 2 successes from the opposition camp.
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