The serial chase masters, Punjab Kings, mauled the Lucknow Super Giants in their defence of a huge 254 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, New Chandigarh to stay unbeaten in IPL 2026. Led by stellar batting shows from Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly, the Kings put up 254/7 before the bowlers backed them well in a huge 54-run win.
The Kings have achieved a huge record with this win as they have become the first team to remain unbeaten after six matches at the start of an IPL season.
Kings have been known to chase down 200-plus targets, but their hard-hitting batting did extremely well after being inserted first. Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly led the way despite Prabhsimran being removed on a golden duck. The two put up a huge stand of 182 for the second wicket as they toyed with the LSG bowlers.
Arya, Connolly go big, Stoinis comes with the finish
Arya slammed 93 from 37 balls, laced with nine sixes and four fours in a knock that came at a strike rate of 251.35. Connolly was not far behind in the shot-making, having hit 87 from 46 deliveries, filled with seven sixes and eight fours.
The two kept churning out runs for fun. Four overs came when the two took more than 15 runs from each of those overs. They took a special liking to Aiden Markram as the two combined to hit 32 runs off him with five sixes in that over.
Bowlers back the batters well
Most of the PBKS bowlers were disciplined with their lines and lengths as they kept the lid on the struggling LSG side. Ayush Badoni was sent to open with Mitchell Marsh as the two took the team to 61/1 in the power play before Badoni departed. Rishabh Pant came and looked good with his 43 from 23 balls as he hit a few sixes. Marsh struggled a bit, scoring 40 from 28 balls as Nicholas Pooran bagged another low score, this time making run-a-ball nine before falling to Marco Jansen.
Aiden Markram was demoted to No.5, and he put in some fireworks with his 22-ball 42 along with Mukul Choudhary, who made 21 from 17 balls, including a helicopter six, sending the fans in awe and deja vu of MS Dhoni.
There were some fielding errors from the PBKS side, particularly from Shashank Singh, who dropped two rather easy chances. Prabhsimran also missed an aerial back-running catch, but there were no concerns as PBKS romped home by 54 runs.
