Kamal Ghorui
“Muskuraiye, aap Lucknow mein hain,” is the tagline often associated with the City of Nawabs. However, Punjab Kings’ fast bowler Arshdeep Singh gave a witty twist to the famous slogan after his team demolished Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2026 match on Sunday. “Ghabraiye, aap Mullanpur mein hain,” said Arshdeep Singh in a reel posted on his Instagram account after the match in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh.Punjab Kings registered a 54-run win over LSG, helped by a 182-run partnership between Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly for the second wicket in the first innings. The stand put the match out of Lucknow’s reach before the chase began.The 24-year-old Delhi man, whose knock came off just 37 balls, joined hands with Cooper Connolly, the most talked about next-gen batting star in Australia, who also oozed class in his 45-ball-87 as Punjab Kings posted an insurmountable 254 for 7 in 20 overs.Lucknow Super Giants replied with 200/5. Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant and Aiden Markram got starts, but the team could not build partnerships and lost their third match in a row.Punjab Kings remain at the top of the table with five wins and one no result from six matches.Lucknow had an early chance when Connolly, on four, survived an lbw appeal off Mohsin Khan after Pant chose not to review. Replays showed the ball would have hit the stumps. Connolly then added 182 runs with Arya.Arya reached his fifty in 19 balls. Connolly later hit Aiden Markram for three consecutive sixes, and Arya followed with two more in the same over, which went for 32 runs.In the chase, Marsh scored 40 and Ayush Badoni made 35. Pant added 43, but wickets at regular intervals and the rising required rate kept Lucknow behind.Markram hit a valiant 22-ball 42 and despite a few dropped catches from Punjab fielders Lucknow lost their third straight match.
