Cooper Connolly had an Indian Premier League debut to remember as he withstood a torrent of wickets falling around him and helped steer Punjab Kings to a nail-biting three-wicket win over the Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
A tidy bowling effort, led by Vijaykumar Vyshak, had seen Punjab limit Gujarat to 162-6 at the New Chandigarh Stadium after Shreyas Iyer chose to chase.
Last year’s finalists Punjab seemed on course for a routine win as opener Prabhsimran Singh and Connolly went after the bowling, putting on 76 for the second wicket in just 49 balls.
Gujarat had hit only three sixes in their entire innings, but Punjab had four in the first four overs as they launched a blistering assault.
But then, the late introduction of Prasidh Krishna, Gujarat’s impact player, threw up a dramatic twist.
Brought on by captain Shubman Gill only in the 13th over, Prasidh took three for three in 10 deliveries to trigger a collapse in which Punjab lost four for eight in just 16 balls.
Yet the 22-year-old Connolly showed a maturity beyond his years to remain calm under pressure and add small but vital partnerships with South African Marco Jansen and fellow Australian Xavier Bartlett.
Probably fittingly, it was Connolly, who remained on 72 from 44 balls with five fours and as many sixes that sealed victory with five balls to spare sending Punjab to 165-7.
Earlier, Gujarat had raced to a quick start with Gill hitting three fours in the second over from Bartlett.
Jansen soon made a breakthrough, having last season’s most productive opening pair of Gill and Sai Sudharsan add only 37 before having the latter caught on the pull for 13.
Gujarat powered at nine an over during the Powerplay but when the ball got older and degenerated, the rate of scoring saw a drop.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, the tournament’s all-time leading wicket-taker, led the attack, having Gill caught in place at deep mid-wicket for 39 with a well tossed-up delivery before going on to scalp Jos Buttler who only made 38.
Gill and Buttler had added 46 in reward for the loss of Sudharsan, while Glenn Phillips tried to bring some needed urgency but Gujarat could do little to establish themselves.
Using the slower ball to devastating effect, Vyshak cut a swathe through the middle order while Jansen was parsimonious, leaking only 20 in his four overs.
Gujarat added just 34 in the final five, led by an 11-ball final over from Arshdeep Singh, and once Connolly got going that total simply wasn’t enough.