NO Shreyas Iyer at No 3 in PBKS vs GT IPL 2026, Ricky Pointing Gives Update

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season has just started and has started providing quality game of cricket to the fans to enjoy this cricket carnival. The match 4 of this season is being played between Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, New Chandigarh. The PBKS vs GT H2H record is equal showing the level of game between these two teams.

The runners up of the last season, Punjab Kings has backed their core team just like the visiting team. However, Kings have made a few changes that are being noticed by the fans making them curious to know Shreyas Iyer batting position in IPL after Cooper Connolly has been the part of the Playing XI.

Why Cooper Connolly is Batting at No 3?

The Australian all-rounder Cooper Connolly is batting at No 3 for the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2026. This is because of him being a perfect replacement of PBKS's last year's No 3 batter, Josh Inglis, who was favored by the head coach Ricky Ponting. Cooper Connolly is batting all-rounder who bats at the top order generally at No 3 or 4 and skipper Shreyas Iyer has been holding the number 4 slot well since last year.

Cooper Connolly batting position was never a question of debate after he was picked up in the IPL auction as he holds all the skills to bat at number 3 and continue the explosive batting. However, Cooper was successful No 3 batter in the BBL where he was averaging over 50 which includes his powerful explosive batting.

Shreyas Iyer Batting Position in IPL

Punjab Kings skipper, Shreyas Iyer, has been a middle order batter for teams giving a reliable option as he has also built reputation of one of the best batsman in IPL. He usually bats at number 3 but sometime goes down to number 4, in order to, give more flexibility in the batting order. However, during the IPL 2025, he started with batting at number 3 for initial matches but demoted himself to number 4 as Inglis was able to continue that hitting momentum.

Shreyas Iyer batting position in IPL 2026 will be again at number 4 as he won't like to have a change in batting order from the last year which proved to be successful for the Kings. Moreover, Shreyas Iyer is playing his first T20 match since IPL 2025 final and will be eying comeback in the Indian National Cricket Team by proving his worth at the middle-order providing mix of stability and hitting in his batting.