Cooper Connolly Breaks Sanath Jayasuriya's 18-Year-Old IPL Record Of...

Punjab Kings signed young Australian all-rounder Cooper Connolly for Rs 3 crore in the IPL 2026 auction, and in his maiden IPL season, the 22-year-old left-handed batter from Perth has played all 13 matches so far for the Shreyas Iyer-led side. In 12 innings of IPL 2026, Connolly has scored a total of 473 runs for Punjab Kings and hammered 32 sixes and 39 fours. A total of 32 sixes by Connolly in IPL 2026 has helped him break Sanath Jayasuriya’s 18-year-old IPL record of hitting the most sixes in a maiden IPL season.

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Jayasuriya, who is one of the greatest cricketers of all time, hammered 31 sixes in 14 matches of the inaugural edition of the IPL for Mumbai Indians.

In the list of batters with

most sixes in their maiden IPL season, Connolly and Jayasuriya are followed by Jake Fraser-McGurk and Finn Allen. While Fraser-McGurk hammered 28 sixes for Delhi Capitals in 2024, Allen has hit 27 sixes so far for Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing 2026 edition.

Most sixes in first IPL season

PLAYER	TEAM	MATCHES	RUNS	SIXES	EDITION
Cooper Connolly	Punjab Kings	13*	473	32*	2026
Sanath Jayasuriya	Mumbai Indians	14	514	31	2008
Jake Fraser-McGurk	Delhi Capitals	9	330	28	2024
Finn Allen	Kolkata Knight Riders	9	321	27	2026
Shaun Marsh	Punjab Kings	11	616	26	2008
Yusuf Pathan	Rajasthan Royals	16	435	25	2008
Priyansh Arya	Punjab Kings	17	475	25	2025
Ewin Lewis	Mumbai Indians	13	382	24	2018
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi	Rajasthan Royals	7	252	24	2025

Connolly, who is the youngest overseas batter in IPL history to score a century, played an impactful knock of 37 runs from 22 balls for Punjab Kings on Sunday, May 17.

During his stay at the crease against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala, he hammered 3 fours and 3 sixes to help them bounce back from early dismissals of Priyansh Arya (0), Prabhsimran Singh (2) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (1).

Cooper Connolly in IPL 2026 (innings by innings)

AGAINST	RUNS	BALLS	4/6s	VENUE	DATE
Lucknow Super Giants	72*	44	5/5	New Chandigarh	March 31
Chennai Super Kings	36	22	6/0	Chennai	April 3
Kolkata Knight Riders	Did Not Bat	–	0/0	Kolkata	April 6
Sunrisers Hyderabad	11	12	1/0	New Chandigarh	April 11
Mumbai Indians	17	12	1/2	Mumbai (WS)	April 16
Lucknow Super Giants	87	46	8/7	New Chandigarh	April 19
Delhi Capitals	17	10	1/1	Delhi	April 25
Rajasthan Royals	30	14	2/3	New Chandigarh	April 28
Gujarat Titans	0	1	0/0	Ahmedabad	May 3
Sunrisers Hyderabad	107*	59	7/8	Hyderabad	May 6
Delhi Capitals	38	27	3/2	Dharamsala	May 11
Mumbai Indians	21	22	2/1	Dharamsala	May 14
Royal Challengers Bengaluru	37	22	3/3	Dharamsala	May 17

The record of hitting most sixes in one edition of the IPL is in the name of Chris Gayle. In the 2012 edition of IPL, Gayle played 15 matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and hammered 59 sixes. He is followed by Andre Russell. Russell hammered 52 sixes for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2019 edition of the IPL. In that edition, Russell played 14 matches for the Dinesh Karthik-led side.