Australia's Cooper Connolly bats during the one day international cricket match between Australia and India in Adelaide, Australia, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)With his unbeaten knock of 61 runs off 53 balls in the second ODI against India at Adelaide, Australian all-rounder 22-year-old Cooper Connolly took his side home to a two-wicket win over the visitors to help Australia pocket what series 2-0 with one match to go in the series.The Western Australia all-rodder was playing in his just seventh ODI of his career on Thursday with his first half-century against India being his first Half-century in all formats in international cricket. Connolly, who had played a 11-ball knock of 25 runs for Perth Scorchers to guide the team to the title in the 2023 BBL, shared how he was thinking about the BBL final knock and singing songs to calms his nerves between every ball amid being starstruck with Indian stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma at the Adelaide Oval.
“I actually had a moment out there today where I was just thinking about how I felt when I was out there (during the BBL final in 2023). To bring myself back down to earth and control my emotions, I like to sing a song to myself. I started singing between every ball just to relax myself, take myself off the game and try to embrace it as much as possible. I was a little bit starstruck walking out and Virat and Rohit are there. It’s always nice to challenge yourself with the best opponent,” scared Connolly while addressing reporters in a press conference post Australia’s win.
The 22-year-old, who made his international debut in the T20 format for Australia in September last year, also made his ODI debut as well Test debut within six months of his T20I debut. The west Australia all-rounder had earlier made his first-class debut in the Sheffield Shield final in 2024 for Western Australia and played a knock of 90 runs in the first innings against Tasmania earlier this year, Connolly was part of the Australia A side during the India tour and scored three half-centuries in the tour including two first-class matches and three 50-over matches in India. Connolly talked about his time in India and how it helped him to build some confidence.
“I think that trip in Kanpur was one of the trips that sort of helped me get my game back in some good stead. I felt like I hadn’t found the middle of the bat for awhile, and to go out there and play against a pretty good India A attack when we were over there, built some confidence in me leading into this,” shared Connolly.
The all-rounder, who bowls left-arm spin, has got his chances in ODI cricket with all-rounders like Glen Maxwell and Steve Smith returning from the ODI format. The 22-year-old also talked about how it has meant that young cricketers like him can come through the team.
“I think we’ve got a lot of depth in Australian cricket, and that was shown tonight,” Connolly said. “Obviously with Smudge and Maxi retiring from one-day cricket earlier in the year. There was obviously some room for some younger guys to come through. And it was nice for myself, Shorty (Matthew Short) , Mitchy (Mitchell Owen), X (Xavier Bartlett), to put our hands up and I guess almost feel like we’re welcome to this stage and being able to play some good cricket now. But there’s a lot of depth in Australian cricket. And I think there’s some positive signs to come.” Shared the all-rounder.
Connoly had stitched together a sixth-partnership of 59 runs in 39 balls with Mitchell Owen against India on Thursday and Indian vice-captain Shreyas Iyer too showered praise on Connolly. “Credit where it’s due, I think they played brilliantly. The way they batted, they rotated their strikes. I think it was a superb performance. Cooper, especially. Being a youngster coming in, showing so much maturity to finish off the game, that shows a lot of character. And he’s someone I’ve seen even in the India A versus Australia A matches, he was charging on the bowlers and very selective in terms of which bowler to target, so credit where it’s due.” Iyer told reporters after the match.
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