On-the-rise Connolly 'keen to stick to my own strengths' at big-hitting Punjab Kings

"I think there's still some slight things that I do that I still haven't mastered yet," 22-year-old Cooper Connolly says about life in the fast lane

Australia's Cooper Connolly, 22, announced himself at the IPL with his very first innings, exactly as his idol Shaun Marsh, then 24, had done in the competition's inaugural edition in 2008, for the same team at that, though Punjab Kings (PBKS) called themselves Kings XI Punjab then.

Marsh, still uncapped internationally at the time, was the Player of the Match for his 84*. Eighteen years later, Connolly smashed 72* in a Player-of-the-Match performance on his debut. Both from Western Australia, in case you were looking for more similarities.

"Luckily enough, I'm quite close with Mitch [Shaun's brother and Australia T20I captain Mitchell] and Shaun, which is always nice. I sort of obviously play with Mitch now," Connolly said in a media interaction facilitated by JioStar on Thursday. "But, yeah, I've had some communications with Shaun when he was still playing, and I really enjoyed that.RelatedConnolly takes first step towards leaving a legacy, as promised

"I sort of grew up watching Shaun. I used to just love watching him. He just played the game on his terms, and that's what I appreciate. And I guess that's the same sort of way I want to play my game."

On his IPL debut, Connolly launched two sixes each off top international bowlers Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada. Overall, he thumped five fours and five sixes in his knock off 44 balls. But despite being part of a line-up which believes in bashing from the word go, Connolly is happy to do what he is comfortable doing: building an innings. Against Gujarat Titans in his debut game, he started with three runs off his first five balls, but made up for the slow start by hitting 24 runs off his next 11 deliveries in the powerplay.

Connolly is not a natural six-hitter. He had said after that innings that he was "more of a tempo player" who liked to "feel the flow of my hands".

"I think each player has their own strengths, and I'm pretty keen to stick to my own strengths," he said. "It's been successful for me so far. So, yes, obviously power is becoming a big part of T20 cricket, but there's other ways to go around it [too]. And that's going to be me sort of understanding and learning, and I'm going to get around that."There's still a lot of time to learn. But I think it's going to be about asking around and understanding how other people go about it, and switching from format to format, and, yeah, just seeing what might work for me and take the notes down and try it out. And eventually, I'll work something out"Cooper Connolly

"But, yeah, I'm pretty happy with sort of the tempo game at the moment because that's allowing me to perform the best that I can for this team. And even in other tournaments as well, I think it's something… what I've done for the last five, six years now, and I'll slowly adapt from that, and I'll get better at obviously those areas. But I'm looking forward to sort of, yeah, just nailing down my game and then adding little bits to the puzzle."

At PBKS, Connolly has been interacting closely with the "world-class" Shreyas Iyer, his captain, and Ricky Ponting, the head coach. Connolly's discussions with Iyer actually go as far back as September-October 2025, when he was in India to represent Australia A. Iyer was India A's captain in the first first-class match, and in the one-dayers that followed, and Connolly was yet to be picked by PBKS.

It was also on that tour that Connolly got his first taste of the spin-friendly Indian pitches and conditions, which are in complete contrast to Australia in general and Western Australia in particular. He struck 70 off only 84 balls in the first first-class fixture in Lucknow, and followed that up by being Australia A's highest run-getter in the List A series. In three matches against India A, he scored 147 runs, including two half-centuries, at a strike rate of 145.54.Cooper Connolly has already made his Australia debut in all three formats•Getty Images

Since 2024, Connolly has also made his debut for the senior Australia side in all three formats. He believes his "relatively aggressive" approach in the longest format helps his "red ball and 50-over cricket sort of line up with each other". About the shortest format, though, Connolly suggested "it's just how can I go from those two formats to T20 cricket, and [from] T20 cricket back to those formats".

"I think that's the beauty about playing all three formats," he said. "It's a challenge, and it's going to take some time to sort of understand how I'm going to go between all three formats. But I'm enjoying that challenge, and I'm learning every time… I'm still [only] 22. So I'm still trying to work that out and what works for me. But yeah, it's the beauty of the game. You're not going to have everything worked out by the age of 22.

"And there's still a lot of time to learn. But I think it's going to be about asking around and understanding how other people go about it, and switching from format to format, and, yeah, just seeing what might work for me and take the notes down and try it out. And eventually, I'll work something out. But I think there's still some slight things that I do that I still haven't mastered yet. So I'm looking forward to that."

For now, though, Connolly is fully focussed on making it big in IPL 2026, where he has started on a positive note. He also wants to stay in touch with his idol. After all, "some people say" he has a similar cover drive, although Marsh's "is a bit more elegant".

"There's still a lot of cricket to go in this tournament," Connolly said. "And, yeah, I'm sure I'll touch base with him at some point [in] this tournament."