Sharma's 141 helps Sunrisers chase down Punjab in Indian Premier League

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Abhishek Sharma scored 141 off 55 balls to lead a stunning chase for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

Chasing Punjab’s mammoth 245-6, Sharma hit 10 sixes and 14 fours in his whirlwind first IPL century as Hyderabad accomplished the second-highest chase in tournament history by reaching 247-2 in 18.3 overs.

It was the third highest individual score in IPL history after Chris Gayle’s 175 not out for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2013 and Brendon McCullum’s 158 not out for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2008.

Sharma notched up a couple of other tournament records as well – his 141 is the highest individual score by an Indian batter in IPL history, and also the highest by a Hyderabad batter.

His knock ended Hyderabad’s four-match losing streak as the team earned its second win in six games to climb to eighth in the table. Punjab is sixth after a second loss in five games.

Earlier, some fireworks from Nicholas Pooran also helped the Lucknow SuperGiants halt the Gujarat Titans’ four-match winning streak.

Pooran smashed 61 off 34 balls as Lucknow beat previous table-toppers Titans by six wickets. Aiden Markram also hit 58 off 31 balls as Lucknow finished on 186-4 in 19.3 overs.

Pooran, the leading run-scorer, struck seven sixes in his fourth half-century of this year’s IPL as Lucknow notched up a third straight win.

Opting to bat, Punjab’s in-form top-order set the tone for the match. Priyansh Arya hit 36 off 13 balls, while Prabhsimran Singh scored 42 off 23 balls.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer led the way with 82 off 36 balls, hitting six sixes in this third half-century of the season.

Cameos from Nehal Wadhera (27) and Marcus Stoinis (34 not out off 11 balls) helped Punjab set an improbable target on the board.

That was until Sharma came to the crease. He put on 171 runs off only 75 balls with Travis Head for the first wicket.

Sharma put on a stellar show, hitting three sixes as he reached 50 off 19 balls. His next 50 came off 21 balls with another three sixes added.

Head scored only his second half-century in six games – he made 66 off 37 balls with nine fours and three sixes. The duo galloped to 100 off 46 balls and crossed 150 in only 66 deliveries.

His partner’s dismissal in the 13th over didn’t slow down Sharma. He added another 51 off 24 balls with Heinrich Klaasen, who eased his way to 21 not out off 14 balls, seeing Hyderabad past the finish line.

Sharma was out caught in the 17th over, helping the Sunrisers to an astounding victory with nine balls to spare.

An opening stand of 120 in 73 balls between Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan led the Titans to 180-6 in Lucknow. Gill scored 60 off 38 balls, including six fours and a six, while Sudharsan made 56 off 37 deliveries.

However, Lucknow fought back through its spinners and then with all-rounder Shardul Thakur picking up two wickets at the end. Gujarat lost all its momentum after losing the openers and Digvesh Rathi claimed the prize wicket of Jos Buttler for 16, while Thakur finished with 2-34 in four overs.

Despite its fine start, the Titans could only manage to get 60 runs off the last 47 balls.

Skipper Rishabh Pant then opened Lucknow’s innings in the absence of the in-form Mitchell Marsh, who was absent for personal reasons.

Pant (21) put on 65 in 38 balls for the first wicket with Markram, who hit nine fours and a six in his third half-century of the season.

Pooran took center stage after Pant’s dismissal in the seventh over. Hitting six after six, especially targeting Gujarat’s spinners, he raced to 50 off only 23 balls.

He and Markram added 58 off 29 deliveries before the latter was out caught in the 12th over.

Ayush Badoni also made 28 not out off 20 balls as Lucknow clinched victory and climbed to third in the points’ table. Gujarat slid down to second on net run-rate.

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

Punjab Kings' captain Shreyas Iyer, second left, reads a paper which was held by Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma, right, with message 'This One's for the Orange Army' after the latter scored a century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Punjab Kings' Arshdeep Singh, right, congratulates Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma for his impressive batting after dismissing him during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma celebrates after scoring a century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo)

Gujarat Titans' Rashid Khan, center, Mohammed Siraj, left, and Prasidh Krishna celebrates the dismissal of Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo)

/Gujarat Titans' Rashid Khan, left, talks to Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran after dismissing him during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' Nicholas Pooran plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?

“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”

Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”

Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.

Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.

Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.

The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.

The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.

“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”

Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.

Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.

“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”

Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”

Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.

Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”

“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.

AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.

In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)