PBKS' Haddin Lauds Cooper Connolly's Mature Batting in IPL Debut

Connolly struck an unbeaten 72 off 44 balls and held his nerve in a chase of 163 after PBKS suffered a middle-order wobble against Gujarat Titans in New Chandigarh. "We've known about Cooper Connolly in Australia for some time. We were pretty keen to get him early in the auction and spoke early in our preparation about bringing him in before everyone could get a real look at how good he was.

"I think everyone got a taste of the maturity he has with the bat and saw the way he controlled the innings in the first game. It was his first IPL game under pressure with things going on around him, but we've known about that ability for a long time, and I think everyone got the opportunity to see his skills," said Haddin in the pre-match press conference.

Haddin also provided a fitness update on skipper Shreyas Iyer, who injured his hand in the previous match after being hit by a shot from Connolly. "There's no break (in the bone), which is a good thing. Now it's just about getting the swelling down and getting the movement back in the hand, so he should be right for tomorrow," he said.

Haddin said PBKS had worked hard in the preparation period to build flexibility in their squad and adapt to varying pitches. "We've got great flexibility in our squad. We've spent a lot of time over the last two years trying to get that balance right so we can cover different surfaces in the IPL.

On assessing the conditions at Chepauk, where the pitch's nature is flat, Haddin said, "We'll look at all the numbers around the surface here. There's a lot of data on how it plays and whether you need to play an extra spinner.

"The wicket has become a bit flatter over time, and there's more grass on it at the moment than we've seen previously, so we'll probably make a judgment call after training today. But as I said before, we're very lucky with the flexibility in our squad, so we're not too worried about what surface we'll get."

On pacer Xavier Bartlett's progress, Haddin noted his evolution as both a bowler and lower-order batter. "If you look closely at Xavier Bartlett's game, he's improved a lot over the last 12 months.

"He started predominantly as a new-ball bowler, but he's developed a really good game at the end of an innings as well. His batting has come a long way over the last 12 months. He's a reliable lower-order hitter now, and we saw that when the pressure was on in the last game."

Haddin signed off by saying PBKS was happy to get off the mark in the tournament with a win. "We're very happy. It's important to get your tournament started in the right way. There's room for improvement in what we did in the first game, but we're very pleased with the way the game panned out in the end."

- IANS