'Good head on his shoulders' - Connolly's happy IPL with PBKS continues

Cooper Connolly came into IPL 2026 as a bit of an unknown, much like his hero Shaun Marsh was in 2008. And much like Marsh did then, also for Punjab Kings (Kings XI Punjab then), Connolly has been his team's most consistent run-scorer. Marsh won the Orange Cap then, and while Connolly is some distance from that, in a batting line-up where the likes of Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer have made all the news, Connolly has been making a lot of noise.

After his 107 not out in 59 balls failed to take PBKS over the line against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) - the big three mentioned above tallied 9 in 12 balls between them - Sairaj Bahutule, the PBKS spin-bowling coach, didn't fail to mention that Connolly played a huge role in ensuring PBKS got more runs than they might have, and that will help the team in terms of the net run-rate later on.

"He is somebody who's very positive and he's a great potential. Definitely he'll play a long period for Australia. He's a very good allrounder in the making, fabulous fielder. And he's got a good head on his shoulders," Bahutule said in the press conference. Connolly, a left-arm spinner, hasn't bowled in the IPL yet because of instructions from Cricket Australia to manage a back issue.

"He's a team man. For today's conditions, we knew at some stage [that] it was a losing cause, but he just made sure that the momentum is on and see how we can get closer to the total. Because obviously things like these also help us in our net run-rate. That's what he did beautifully. I think he's learning, you know, being in India, playing in the conditions and the way he has adapted as an overseas player has been fabulous to see at that age [22] to come and to really play in different venues, different pitches and perform so well."

Connolly started the season with 72 not out in 44 balls against Gujarat Titans (GT), and has since scored big runs against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) - 87 in 46 balls - before the century against SRH. Unfortunately for him, his name goes up in the list of century-makers this season who have ended up on the losing side: six out of ten.

"I feel like he bats with conviction - in difficult situations, he's stepped up for his side," Katey Martin said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "It's pretty cool. He said he modelled himself on Shaun Marsh, who we know started at Punjab as well, and he [Connolly] has talked a lot about trying to be a legacy player and create a legacy at Punjab. So it shows that while in franchise cricket you can go anywhere, a player is really invested in what they're doing.

"I'm sure that he'll walk off tonight obviously frustrated at the [team's] performance but have a lot of pride within himself and I think he's been a real point of difference [for PBKS]. We have talked about Punjab, that various players step up at different times especially through that middle order, and he'll take a lot of confidence out of this, to show that he deserves to be on this big stage."

Connolly is already an international cricketer, unlike Marsh in 2008. He captained Australia at the 2022 Under-19 World Cup, and was in his country's yellow, playing both white-ball formats, by September 2024, unusually for Australia. By February 2025, he was also playing Test cricket in Sri Lanka.

He made his name in the BBL, but struggled with the bat for Perth Scorchers in the season gone by, aggregating 209 from 12 innings at a strike rate of 130.33. He was good with the ball, though, picking up 15 wickets, the highest for Scorchers.

"He struggled a little bit there at the Scorches in terms of scoring runs, but he was really effective with the ball and I think [he is] probably more famous for playing in Australian colours with the ball," Martin said. "It just shows he has all facets [of the game]. But yeah, he just looks calm and composed under pressure and I love that he's sort of just got a slight lag in terms of how he snaps through the ball [with his wrists], which creates that really nice bat-plane, where you can hit 360 degrees."

Click here to read article