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Punjab Kings (PBKS) were not busy in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini-auction as they had Rs 11.5 crore in the purse to fill a maximum of six slots including two overseas. The runner-ups of the IPL 2025 opted for less prominent players from Australia – Cooper Connolly and Ben Dwarshuis after letting go of Josh Inglis and Aaron Hardie. Skipper Shreyas Iyer who was present at the auction revealed that Connolly was not the first choice but he was finalised during a brainstorming session. Iyer also expected him to fetch a higher bid than Rs 3 crore.
“Honestly, he wasn't there in our mind at the start but as we brainstormed and narrowed down our options, we realized he fit the position perfectly,” Iyer revealed after roping in Connolly.
“He has a great temperament and the ability to finish games. Those characteristics matter a lot in IPL. However, we didn’t think we would get him for 3, we actually predicted his price would be much higher.”
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22-year-old Connolly sent a timely reminder to the franchises with a 31-ball 59 for Perth Scorchers while chasing against Sydney Sixers in Big Bash League (BBL) 2025-26 opener. The southpaw hit five sixes in the rain-curtailed run chase of 114, helping his side win by five wickets.
Connolly in international cricket
So far, Connolly has played one Test, eight ODIs and six T20Is. He has 111 runs in international cricket from eight innings across formats. With the ball he has one wicket in T20Is and seven in ODIs, including a fifer against South Africa.
Connolly’s T20 numbers
So far, he has played 36 T20s. Apart from BBL, the only league he has played in is Major League Cricket (MLC). From 29 T20 innings, he has 705 runs at an average of 33.57 and strike rate 136.36, including three fifties. With the ball, the left-arm spinner has 13 wickets at an average of 26.76.
Punjab Kings full squad for IPL 2026 -
Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Mitchell Owen, Harnoor Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyla Avinash, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Pravin Dubey and Vishal Nishad.
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