{"id":157176,"date":"2026-04-20T11:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=157176"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T17:21:24","slug":"sticking-to-his-strengths-allows-cooper-connolly-to-flourish-at-punjab-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/?p=157176","title":{"rendered":"Sticking to his strengths allows Cooper Connolly to flourish at Punjab Kings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content-body-70885799\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">In Punjab Kings\u2019 thrill-a-minute batting line-up, which posted this Indian Premier League (IPL) season\u2019s highest total on Sunday here, Cooper Connolly\u2019s approach strikes a discordant note.<\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old Australian doesn\u2019t attempt to manufacture those cheeky shots that have become synonymous with T20 cricket but rather relies on his gift of timing and placement.<\/p>\n<p>Neither does he try to force the pace of the game. During his 182-run stand with the belligerent Priyansh Arya, he bided his time in the PowerPlay before finishing with a 46-ball 87 that helped the Kings to a match-winning 254 for seven against Lucknow Super Giants.<\/p>\n<p><b>READ<\/b>  |          <b><a href=\"https:\/\/sportstar.thehindu.com\/cricket\/ipl\/pbks-vs-lsg-ipl-2026-priyansh-arya-cooper-connolly-match-result-punjab-kings-lucknow-super-giants\/article70881913.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Priyansh, Connolly put on a show to help Punjab Kings extend unbeaten run<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone has their own understanding of their ability and how they go about it, and what works for them. It is about individually understanding what works for you in those moments and what makes you successful for a long period of time. We have discussions about what works for each other, and we take little things from each other\u2019s books,\u201d Connolly said, while adding that he was enjoying watching Priyansh \u2018go about it in his own way\u2019 from the non-striker\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p>For Connolly, who tops the run charts for the Kings, with 223 runs in five innings, \u2018there is a time and a place\u2019 for innovative stroke-making.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is about knowing their strengths and sticking to their strengths. They know where they\u2019re dominant. They know what some areas that they might get targeted in are,\u201d Connolly said about the different approaches of the Kings batters.<\/p>\n<p>It was a similar case of backing his strengths and ability for Super Giants pacer Prince Yadav, who bowled a stingy spell (2\/25 in four overs) in a match that saw more than 450 runs being plundered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe plan was to bowl as many yorkers as I could; it is something I have been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"publish-time\" id=\"end-of-article\">Published on Apr 20, 2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sportstar.thehindu.com\/cricket\/ipl\/cooper-connolly-interview-punjab-kings-vs-lucknow-super-giants-ipl-2026-news\/article70885799.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Punjab Kings\u2019 thrill-a-minute batting line-up, which posted this Indian Premier League (IPL) season\u2019s highest total on Sunday here, Cooper Connolly\u2019s approach strikes a discordant note. The 22-year-old Australian doesn\u2019t attempt to manufacture those cheeky shots that have become synonymous with T20 cricket but rather relies on his gift of timing and placement. Neither does&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IPL2020262027.JPG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgnRh4-ET6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=157176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/157177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=157176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=157176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newslink360.space\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=157176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}