Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad match scorecard IPL 2026 Split, Connolly’s Lone Century

May 6, 2026. Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. Cooper Connolly walks off unbeaten on 107. His team has just lost by 33 runs.

If that sentence sounds familiar, it’s because Punjab Kings have now been on both sides of this exact contradiction in cricket, seemingly built for iterating it against Sunrisers Hyderabad specifically. Just three weeks earlier at Mullanpur, PBKS had chased down 220 with six wickets and seven balls to spare a genuinely dominant win.

But here’s the real problem with how this rivalry gets covered: every scorecard shows two isolated results a PBKS win, then an SRH win. Nobody explains that SRH have now won 17 of 24 all-time meetings against PBKS one of the most lopsided head-to-heads in the IPL and that the 2026 script (SRH’s top order collectively overwhelming PBKS’s bowling) is the exact same script SRH used to chase 246 against PBKS just a year earlier.

This is the complete picture.

PBKS vs SRH – all recent match scorecards at a glance

Match	Date	Venue	PBKS Score	SRH Score	Result
IPL 2026 – Match 49	May 6, 2026	Rajiv Gandhi Intl Stadium, Hyderabad	202/7 (20 ov)	235/4 (20 ov)	SRH won by 33 runs
IPL 2026 – Match 17	Apr 11, 2026	Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium, Mullanpur	223/4 (18.5 ov)	219/6 (20 ov)	PBKS won by 6 wkts (7 balls)
IPL 2025 – Match 27	Apr 12, 2025	Rajiv Gandhi Intl Stadium, Hyderabad	245/6 (20 ov)	247/2 (18.3 ov)	SRH won by 8 wkts

PBKS and SRH split their two IPL 2026 encounters but both matches at Hyderabad (2025 and 2026) went to SRH by comfortable margins.

IPL 2026 Match 17 – PBKS 223/4 beat SRH 219/6 by 6 wickets

Match info

Match	PBKS vs SRH – IPL 2026, 17th Match
Venue	Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur
Date	April 11, 2026
Toss	Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to field first
Result	Punjab Kings beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 wickets (7 balls remaining)
Player of the Match	Shreyas Iyer

Full scorecard

Format	SRH	PBKS
Score	219/6 (20 overs)	223/4 (18.5 overs)
Powerplay score	105/? (6 ov)	—

SRH’s 105-run powerplay that fizzled: the acceleration collapse

SRH scored 105 runs in the powerplay alone against PBKS. At that rate 17.5 runs per over a simple extrapolation suggests SRH were on course for something close to 290-300.

They finished at 219/6.

What people think vs reality:

• What people think: “SRH had a disappointing batting performance, scoring only 219.”
• Reality: 219 after a 105-run powerplay is not a disappointing total in absolute terms it’s a collapse in acceleration. SRH added just 114 runs in their final 14 overs (8.1 rpo) after racing at nearly 18 rpo in the first six. Something happened in overs 7-14 that PBKS’s bowling attack engineered likely early wickets or tight death-over spin that competitors have completely ignored.

Unique insight: This pattern fast powerplay, stalled middle overs is a classic sign of a bowling attack making a tactical adjustment after conceding early runs. PBKS’s captain Shreyas Iyer likely brought spin into the attack earlier than standard to break SRH’s rhythm, given that SRH’s middle-overs run rate dropped by more than half compared to their powerplay.

PBKS’s chase: Iyer seals Player of the Match

PBKS chased 220 and got there in 18.5 overs with 6 wickets in hand comfortable, controlled, professional.

Slightly bold opinion: Shreyas Iyer winning Player of the Match in this game with PBKS unbeaten at that stage of IPL 2026 reflects a captain leading from the front in exactly the moments his team needs it. A chase of 220 that finishes with 7 balls to spare isn’t a nervy chase; it’s a statement chase. This is the version of PBKS that can compete with SRH’s batting depth when their bowling executes the powerplay-to-middle-overs transition correctly.

IPL 2026 Match 49 – SRH 235/4 beat PBKS 202/7 by 33 runs

Match info

Match	SRH vs PBKS – IPL 2026, 49th Match
Venue	Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Date	May 6, 2026
Toss	Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first
Result	Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Punjab Kings by 33 runs
Player of the Match	Pat Cummins

Full SRH batting card

Batter	R	Notes
Heinrich Klaasen	69	Top scorer
Ishan Kishan	55	Second major contribution
Travis Head	38	Third major contribution
Nitish Kumar Reddy	29*	Returning from injury; finished the innings off 13 balls
Total	235/4	11.75 rpo

Full PBKS batting card (chasing 236)

Batter	R	B	Notes
Cooper Connolly	107*	—	Century in a losing cause
Others (combined)	~95	—	Six wickets, ~95 runs total
Total	202/7	120	10.10 rpo

SRH bowling:

Bowler	O	R	W
Pat Cummins	—	34	2
“Shivang” (bowler)	—	45	2

Read Also:- Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians match scorecard

SRH’s collective top-order explosion: why three batters beat one hero

What most people miss: Look at SRH’s top four: Klaasen 69, Kishan 55, Head 38, Nitish 29*. That’s four contributors above 25 runs. PBKS, by contrast, had exactly one Connolly’s 107*.

This is the core tactical lesson of the match: distributed batting risk beats concentrated batting risk in T20 cricket. When SRH lose Klaasen, they still have Kishan and Head to fall back on. When PBKS’s other six batters combined for only ~95 runs, there was no second wave of support for Connolly no matter how well he played.

Original observation: Pat Cummins winning Player of the Match with figures of 2/34 not the most spectacular bowling figures on paper reflects that his wickets came at the right moments, likely breaking crucial partnerships that prevented PBKS from building the platform Connolly needed around him.

Cooper Connolly’s 107* a century that couldn’t save PBKS

Connolly’s century is PBKS’s individual highlight of IPL 2026’s mid-season and it changes nothing about the result.

Counterintuitive idea: A century in a 33-run defeat is often more impressive than a century in a win, because it means the player had zero support and still nearly dragged his team into contention. Chasing 236, if Connolly’s strike rate (107 off however many balls, likely around 55-60) had been matched by even one more batter scoring 50+, this match flips completely. The story isn’t “Connolly failed to win it” it’s “PBKS’s other six batters failed Connolly.”

Common mistake in analysis: Treating Connolly 107* as a consolation statistic. It should instead be read as the clearest evidence yet that PBKS’s middle-to-lower order needs urgent reinforcement because their best individual batting performance of the season came in a defeat by 33 runs.

IPL 2025 Match 27: the blueprint for SRH’s 2026 dominance

PBKS posted a strong 245/6 at Hyderabad in April 2025.

SRH chased it down in 18.3 overs, finishing 247/2 an 8-wicket win.

Abhishek Sharma scored 141 off 55 balls, with Travis Head contributing 66 the same top-order-explosion blueprint that reappeared in Match 49 of 2026.

Original observation: This is not a coincidence it’s a pattern spanning two full seasons. SRH’s approach against PBKS specifically has been: post a genuinely good total or chase a genuinely good total, using one or two top-order batters at strike rates above 180-250, rather than distributing scoring evenly. PBKS’s bowling attack has failed to contain this specific approach in both 2025 and 2026 matches played at Hyderabad.

PBKS vs SRH head-to-head: why SRH lead 17-7

Overall record

Format	Matches	SRH Wins	PBKS Wins	NR
All-time (through IPL 2025)	24	17	7	0
Highest score	SRH 247	PBKS 245	—	—
Lowest score	SRH 114	PBKS 119	—	—

SRH’s win rate against PBKS is over 70% one of the most lopsided head-to-heads involving any two “middle-tier” IPL franchises.

The structural explanation: why this isn’t random

Unique insight: SRH’s batting philosophy since 2022 (Cummins-led, high-risk, high-strike-rate top order Head, Abhishek Sharma, Klaasen, Kishan) is specifically built to exploit exactly the kind of bowling depth issues PBKS has repeatedly shown. SRH don’t need their whole team to fire; they need any two of their top four to strike at 150+ simultaneously, and PBKS’s bowling historically light on genuine death-overs containment has failed to stop this pattern across multiple seasons.

Slightly bold opinion: PBKS’s 2026 win at Mullanpur (Match 17) is the exception that proves the rule. It happened at PBKS’s home venue, where conditions and crowd support favour them, and where SRH’s powerplay explosion (105 in 6 overs) still wasn’t enough because PBKS’s spin-heavy middle-overs plan actually worked for once. At Hyderabad, that same PBKS bowling attack has now lost in both 2025 and 2026 the venue amplifies SRH’s structural batting advantage.

Venue breakdown

Venue	PBKS record	SRH record	Notes
Mullanpur (PBKS home, 2026)	1-0	0-1	PBKS’s tactical adjustments worked
Rajiv Gandhi Intl, Hyderabad	0-2 (last 2)	2-0 (last 2)	SRH’s fortress against PBKS

What PBKS needs to do now

• Build a specific bowling plan for SRH’s top four (Head, Abhishek/Kishan, Klaasen) targeting their first 10-15 balls the Mullanpur game shows early powerplay pressure into spin control works.
• Strengthen middle-order support around their best batters Connolly’s 107* in a defeat is proof that one great innings isn’t a team plan.
• Treat away matches at Hyderabad as their toughest fixture on the calendar the venue-specific 0-2 record over two seasons demands a different tactical approach than home matches.

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