Rahul and De Kock pace Lucknow chase in IPL win over Chennai

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Lokesh Rahul and Quinton de Kock brilliantly paced Lucknow Super Giants' chase to beat Chennai Super Kings with an over to spare in the Indian Premier League on Friday.

Rahul's and De Kock's opening partnership of 134 runs set up Lucknow to reach 180-2 in reply to Chennai's 176-6 and win by eight wickets.

Both teams have four wins from sevens games, but Chennai was third and Lucknow fifth on net run rate.

Skipper Rahul scored 82 off 53 balls with nine fours and three sixes. He was out with only 16 runs needed. De Kock scored 54 off 43 balls and fell in the 15th over.

They made full use of the power play, plundering 54 runs in the first six overs. Their partnership reached 100 off only 65 balls.

De Kock reached 50 off 41 balls, hitting five fours and a six, before he was caught behind off Mustafizur Rahman.

It was a poor bowling display from Chennai, however. The spinners weren’t able to exploit a slow-paced track, partly owing to the dewy conditions.

Rahul stroked his way to a 31-ball half-century. Rahul fell before the finish line but the promoted Nicholas Pooran finished off Lucknow's first win in three games. He was 23 not out off 12 balls.

Put into bat, Chennai lost opener Rachin Ravindra for a golden duck.

Ajinkya Rahane ra 36 off 24 balls, while skipper Rituraj Gaikwad scored 17.

The Lucknow pacers were on top at the beginning. Mohsin Khan dismissed Ravindra and Yash Thakur got rid of captain Rituraj Gaikwad. Ajinkya Rahane (36) fell to spin.

Ravindra Jadeja was promoted to No. 3 to counter Lucknow’s spin bowling and the move worked as he batted to his first half-century this season off 34 balls.

Jadeja didn't get support until Moeen Ali arrived at 90-5. The left-handed pairing rescued Chennai with a combined 51 off 33 balls for the sixth wicket. Ali was out caught with 13 deliveries left.

Veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked in to a loud cheer and smacked 28 not out off nine deliveries, including three fours and two sixes.

Jadeja finished 57 not out off 40 balls.

Krunal Pandya took 2-16 and Marcus Stoinis 1-7.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Chennai Super Kings' Ravindra Jadeja watches the ball after playing a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

Chennai Super Kings' Ravindra Jadeja celebrates his fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

Lucknow Super Giants' Quinton de Kock plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

Lucknow Super Giants' captain KL Rahul completes the run during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

Lucknow Super Giants' captain KL Rahul plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

Lucknow Super Giants' captain KL Rahul, , left, and his batting partner Quinton de Kock run between the wickets during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow, India, Friday, April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza as he neared the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.

At Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists he wanted to see U.S.-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages.

“I hope so,” Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was "certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”

As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet relations soured after Netanyahu became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his 2020 presidential victory, which Trump continues to deny.

The two men now have a strong interest in restoring their relationship, both for the political support their alliance brings and for the luster it gives each with their conservative supporters.

A beaming Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.

“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted before journalists. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”

For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.

Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.

On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who appears on track to becoming the new Democratic presidential nominee after Biden decided to step out of the race. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages held by Hamas.

Trump’s campaign said he pledged in Friday's meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.

Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.

In a speech later Friday before a group of young Christian conservatives, Trump said he also asked Netanyahu during their meeting how “a Jewish person, or a person that loves Israel” can vote for Democrats.

He also laced into Harris for missing Netanyahu's speech and claimed she “doesn’t like Jewish people” and “doesn’t like Israel." Harris has been married to a Jewish man for a decade.

For Trump, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.

Divisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.

For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.

One gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president," Miller said, meaning Trump.

Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.

For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hoped would be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.

In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty.

He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.

In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday and again Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”

Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem's status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu's praise.

Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.

Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, Adriana Gomez Licon in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed. Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Price reported from New York.

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Believers' Summit, Friday, July 26, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks while meeting with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - President Donald Trump, right, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Sept. 15, 2020, at the White House in Washington. Trump is due to talk face-to-face with Netanyahu for the first time in nearly four years. The meeting Friday, July 26, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago will mend a break that has lasted since 2021. Trump at the time blasted Netanyahu for being one of the first leaders to congratulate President Joe Biden for his election victory. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)