3 min readApr 1, 2026 12:28 AM IST
Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer was hit flush on his wrist by a shot hit by teammate Cooper Connolly on Tuesday in their Indian Premier League match vs the Gujarat Titans. He looked in considerable pain as the physio checked on him and was dismissed on the very next delivery.
After the match though, Iyer said that the wrist was the same as it was before and he did not want to jinx anything. “All I can say, it’s nice. It’s the same as it was before. I don’t want to jinx anything. I just want to stay positive and hopefully everything comes out right,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony when asked about the injury.
The skipper, who scored 18, said that he was inside icing his hand when Punjab suffered a mini collapse, losing Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis inside 5 runs.
“Honestly speaking, I was focused on my hand inside, icing it and then suddenly we lost two wickets back-to-back. These things happen in the IPL and you have to remain calm and composed in such situations. So the message was pretty simple. Just take the game to the end and Cooper was there. He was pretty much set. And he’s got a great awareness as a player. I’ve seen him in the past as well, playing for Australia. He’s got a great mindset and hopefully he continues with the same form,” he said.
“Some of the shots that he played, it was surreal to watch. It was unbelievable. The back foot six off Rashid, one of the best bowlers in the IPL, to hit him so clearly and neatly, it was simply phenomenal,” he added on Connolly’s performance.
Connolly slammed a fine unbeaten fifty as Punjab Kings defeated Gujarat Titans by three wickets. A disciplined bowling effort helped PBKS restrict former champions GT to 162 for six with Vijaykumar Vyshak (3/34), Yuzvendra Chahal (2/28) and Marco Jansen (1/20) sharing the wickets after PBKS opted to bowl.
For GT, skipper Shubman Gill (39), Jos Buttler (38), Glenn Phillips (25) and Washington Sundar (18) scored bulk of the runs.
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In reply, PBKS reached the target in 19.1 overs with Connolly (72 not out off 44 balls) emerging as the highest scorer. Prasidh Krishna (3/29), Rashid Khan (1/29) and Washington Sundar (1/27) were among the wickets for GT.
