Unbeaten, unbroken, unbowed: Priyansh, Connolly power Punjab to epic thrashing of LSG

IPL 2026, PBKS vs LSG: Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly powered Punjab Kings to a massive 54-run win over Lucknow Super Giants. As Punjab continued their unbeaten run, Lucknow Super Giants sank further in the Indian Premier League table.

In Short

• Punjab Kings remained unbeaten in the Indian Premier League 2026
• PBKS thrashed Lucknow Super Giants by a big margin of 54 runs
• Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly added 182 runs for the 2nd wicket

Brief Score: PBKS (254 for 7 in 20 overs) beat LSG (200/5 in 20 overs) by 54 runs in Match No.29 of IPL 2026 in Mullanpur on Sunday. PBKS vs LSG, IPL 2026: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD

They say that you should be careful what you wish for. At the toss, Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant wished that his team would rather try to take the risk and score 220, rather than hit 200 runs and hope that the bowling attack does its trick.

Safe to say, Pant got what he wished for. Within one and a half hours of making those comments, Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings handed Lucknow the highest run chase in the Indian Premier League 2026. Youngsters Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly launched an astonishing assault against the visitors, aiding Punjab to a mammoth total of 254 runs, which proved a little too big for the Lucknow Super Giants to chase down.

Facing that mega score on an absolute tarmac at the Mullanpur Stadium, LSG batters were always left chasing the game, and ended up finishing with the score of 200/5, falling short by 54 runs in the evening game of Sunday, April 19.

This was the third loss in a row for Rishabh Pant's LSG, who last won a game against KKR at the Eden Gardens, courtesy of Mukul Choudhary's late blitz. LSG needed many of those blitzes today, but not a single batter, including captain Rishabh Pant, was able to convert their starts into big scores on Sunday.

It was a tough night for the entire LSG camp, as Punjab ripped apart the team piece by piece, sinking the LSG ship further in the IPL table.

PRIYANSH, CONNOLLY WREAK HAVOC

On Sunday, LSG won the toss and opted to bowl first, taking Punjab Kings' strong chasing capabilities out of the game. Punjab, over the past two seasons, have chased down the most 200+ totals in the Indian Premier League, a trend that has continued this year as well.

After getting the toss right, LSG were off to a flying start, breaking the opening partnership of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya in the first over itself. Mohammed Shami, veteran of 125 matches, edged in-form Prabhsimran Singh to first slip. With Prabh gone, Punjab suddenly had two youngsters at the crease against a potent bowling attack.

Connolly, who rose to fame in Punjab's opening game of the season against Gujarat Titans, struggled hard inside the powerplay, failing to read Mohsin Khan. Connolly was out nearly twice against Mohsin on Sunday, first after getting rapped on the pads, a decision that was denied by the umpire, only for the replays to show later that he was LBW, plumb in front of the wicket. Mohsin then dropped Connolly off his own bowling, making the first few overs of the game a tentative competition between the bat and the ball.

While Connolly struggled, Priyansh found his range early, racing to 21 off 8 against the bowlers that Connolly was struggling against. Priyansh's assault in the early part of the innings helped Punjab maintain a run rate of 10 per over in the powerplay.

By the end of the powerplay, Connolly was struggling horribly, stuttering at 19 off 22 balls, batting at a strike rate of just 86.

Even at this point, there was no indication that this would end up being a 250-run total. It was not one of those starts, 100/2, 107/1 inside the first 6 overs, which help teams carry on the momentum after the powerplay.

Just when it seemed like something would give if pressure was applied on Punjab, Rishabh Pant, the LSG captain, decided to let the batters off the hook by bowling part-timer Ayush Badoni in the first over after the powerplay.

This was perhaps the exact break that Connolly needed. The left-hander hit Badoni for a four and a six, and from there never looked back. The shots, which looked laborious at the start of the innings, started reaching the boundary, having broken the shackles in the middle overs.

Seeing Connolly find his form, Priyansh Arya went berserk on the other end. He completed his fifty in 19 balls, and then went around smashing Shami, Avesh Khan, and Aiden Markram in an astonishing bout of counter-attack.

From 63/1 in 6 overs, the Connolly-Priyansh counterattack had LSG running around like headless chickens, as they leaked 120 runs in the next 8 overs.

By the time Connolly and Priyansh were done with LSG, the duo had put together 182 runs in just 80 balls.

Connolly was the first to go, having scored 87 off 46, taking Punjab's total to an astonishing 186/2 in just 14 overs.

The damage, by that time, was done.

RISHABH PANT MAKES QUESTIONABLE CALLS

And one has to talk about Rishabh Pant's captaincy here, who had Manimaran Siddharth at his disposal, a powerplay specialist spinner, who he chose not to bowl in the first 6 overs. Furthermore, Pant decided to bring in Badoni in the 7th, an over that essentially flipped the game on its head.

Pant's lack of trust in Siddharth was confusing, as the spinner had been played ahead of Digvesh Rathi, one of LSG's mainstays last season. After giving 10 runs in his first over (9th in the match), the spinner was once again held back till the 15th, when he returned and immediately dismissed a rampaging Priyansh Arya (93 off 37), who looked set for his second hundred in the IPL.

Once again, Pant's captaincy needs to be questioned, as he fed Aiden Markram to the in-form left-handers, an over that leaked 32 runs just 2 overs before Siddharth's.

Lucknow were very lucky that Punjab, unlike on most days, were not able to capitalise on the partnership. From 186/2 in the 14th, Punjab added only 68 runs in the final 6 overs. Prince Yadav needs to be credited for his level head, bowling his cutters and short balls, registering figures of 4-0-25-2, figures that came in sharp contrast to the rest of the LSG bowling unit.

Coming in to bowl, Punjab knew that they only needed to contain to win the game. And they managed that very well, courtesy of Vijaykumar Vyshak and Yuzvendra Chahal, who executed their roles well for the better part of the day.

MOUNTAIN TOO STEEP TO SCALE FOR LSG

Chasing 255, Lucknow knew that they had to bat in just one gear. In a desperate bid, they switched their opening combination, opting for Ayush Badoni and Mitchell Marsh, in place of Marsh and Aiden Markram, who usually open for the team.

The move was aimed at protecting Markram from Arshdeep Singh, who has the wood over the batter in the T20 format. LSG's move worked, briefly, when Badoni and Marsh raced to 61 runs in the powerplay, nearly identical to Punjab's exploits in the first innings.

Badoni (35 off 21) was the first to fall, trying to hit the ball hard and ending up losing his shape. A frustrated Marsh (40 off 28) was second to go, irritated by Yuzvendra Chahal's ability to drift the ball in and skid through the surface. Marsh ended up finding a tall Xavier Bartlett, waiting to pounce upon a mistimed shot from the batter, which eventually arrived in the 12th over of the game.

And from there, it was business as usual. Rishabh Pant (43 off 23) played some good shots, but was unable to sustain his momentum. Nicholas Pooran continued his horror form this season. Batting out of position, Markram scored 42 off 22, hitting it straight to Marco Jansen at long-off.

LSG perhaps would not even have reached the 200-run mark if not for a flurry of dropped catches from Punjab. Quite uncharacteristic of a Ricky Ponting side, Punjab dropped four clear chances in total. There were more at the boundary lines and a couple of caught-and-bowled attempts that PBKS should probably have held on to.

Ponting, on the sidelines, was baffled at the fielding display and turned red in anger in the dugout. And it would perhaps be one of the discussions that Punjab Kings will probably have after the game, despite continuing their unbeaten run this season.

As for LSG, life just got tougher. Ahead of the PBKS match, the LSG owner did an interview with NDTV where he was asked if the rumours of his angry burst at the captains were real. The LSG owner denied it then, but that might end up changing today.

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