MULLANPUR: Punjab Kings spinner Yuzvendra Chahal believes young Cooper Connolly will be one of the "finds" of this season, praising the young Australian batter's maturity after he scored a match-winning fifty on his IPL debut.
The 22-year-old Connolly announced himself in style, smashing an unbeaten 72 to guide Punjab Kings to a nervy three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in their IPL campaign opener here on Tuesday.
"He's only 20 something but has a hunger. The way he performed in his very first match, batting at number 3, playing a match-winning innings, shows how mature he is mentally," Chahal said at the post-match press conference. Walking in at No. 3, Connolly held firm even as wickets fell at the other end, showing remarkable composure for a newcomer.
"He knows what the situation is. He knows that if I am there till the end, then I have to finish the game. And that shows maturity. That is a good sign for our team.
"And the way he is batting, I think he will be one of the finds of this season," Chahal said.
Chahal himself played a key role with the ball, returning figures of 2/28 in his four overs.
His experience shone through as he applied pressure in the middle overs, restricting GT to 162/6.
Speaking about the bowling plans, he said:"Because the wicket was a little slow, we didn't want to give pace. We wanted to bowl as many cutters as possible. The plan was that if the batsmen hit on longer boundaries, it would be good for us."
Despite Connolly's heroics, Punjab Kings suffered a middle-order collapse, with Priyansh Arya (7), captain Shreyas Iyer (18), Nehal Wadhera (3), Shashank Singh (4) and Marcus Stoinis (0) failing to make an impact.
However, Chahal played down the concerns.
"Every year you have one or two matches like that, and we are lucky that the first match was like that. So, it's nothing to worry about right now. The way we have been playing since last year, we will go to the ground with the same positive energy and there is a hunger, which we missed last year," he said.
PBKS, who moved to fourth spot on the point stable, will next take on Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on Friday.