Connolly Ton in Vain as SRH Surge to Top of IPL Table

Result: SRH 235/4 beat PBKS 202/7 by 33 runs. Significance: SRH go top of IPL 2026 with 14 points from 11 games. PBKS slip to 2nd with 13 points after 3rd straight loss. Powerplay blitz: 79/1 in 6 overs set the tone. Abhishek Sharma 35 off 13 balls. Travis Head 38 off 19. Opening stand 54 in 3.3 overs. Middle-order muscle: Ishan Kishan 55 off 32 balls. Heinrich Klaasen 69 off 43 balls. “Continued manic consistency. ”Nitish Kumar Reddy 29_ off 13 balls late flourish. PBKS fielding cost them: Dropped Kishan twice on 9 & 24, Klaasen on 10, missed stumping on 26. “Catches win matches” – PBKS dropped 3-4 chances. Marco Jansen 0/61, Vyshak 0/54. SRH had never lost defending a 220-plus target in the IPL and that stat remained intact. Connolly - who had two lives - smashed his maiden century in any format, finishing unbeaten on 107 off 59 balls, but got little support from the rest as PBKS were handed a third straight defeat. With the win, SRH are now leading the table with 14 points, while PBKS remain on 13. Lone battle: Young Aussie Cooper Connolly’s maiden IPL + T20 hundred. Youngest overseas player to score IPL century. Knock: 107_ off 59, reached 100 in 57 balls. 6 fours, 7 sixes. Partners: Stoinis 28 off 14, Shedge 25 off 17, Jansen 19 off 16. But no one stayed. Context: PBKS collapsed to 4/2 in 1.1 overs, 23/3 in 3.2 overs. Needed 145 in last 10 overs, 106 in 30 balls. "It's been a bit of a virus for us" was how Ricky Ponting described PBKS' catching during a mid-game chat. It became worse as the evening progressed. Yuzvendra Chahal struck in his first over, right after the powerplay, deceiving Head with a wrong'un that was miscued to long-off. He could have had at least two more if not for the fielding bug that hit PBKS. Kishan was given three chances - two drops and a missed stumping - on 9, 18 and 19. Klaasen should have had his first single-digit score of the season, but he was dropped on 9. They made PBKS pay. Bottom line: SRH’s batting muscle posted 235 despite PBKS winning toss and bowling. Connolly’s heroic 107_ kept PBKS alive but chase was dead after 23/3. Cummins called it “clinical”. SRH take top spot; PBKS rue dropped catches and top-order collapse. Connolly raced through the 70s with two sixes against Malinga and reached his century in the final over, with a falling sweep against Shivang over backward square leg. While Connolly finished unbeaten on 107, the second-best score of the PBKS innings was 28, and that proved to be the difference.