Chennai finally ends its longest IPL losing streak after beating high-flying Lucknow

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Chennai Super Kings ended their longest ever losing streak by stopping the Lucknow Super Giants' three-match winning run in the Indian Premier League on Monday.

A day after Chennai coach Stephen Fleming said Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't have a magic wand, the new captain proved the claim wrong by scoring a robust 26 not out off 11 balls to get them over the finish line with three balls left. He was supported by impact player Shivam Dube, 43 not out.

Chennai scored 168-5 after Lucknow's lowest total of the season 166-7, winning by five wickets after five straight losses.

Lucknow clawed its way back through spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Digvesh Rathi in the middle overs. But in the death overs, Bishnoi, 2-18, wasn't given a fourth and final over. Instead, the pacers were, and Dhoni and Dube punished them in a 57-run partnership off 28 balls.

Shardul Thakur was notably expensive with figures of 0-56.

After the tight win, five-time champion Chennai remained at the bottom of the table and Lucknow was fourth.

Opening batter Shaik Rasheed replaced Devon Conway and smashed six fours in his IPL debut. Along with Rachin Ravindra's 37, they gave Chennai's chase a brisk start of 52 off 29 balls.

But when they were dismissed, Chennai’s brittle middle order was exposed again.

Bishnoi and Rathi dismissed Rahul Tripathi, Ravindra Jadeja and Vijay Shankar for single-digit scores before Dhoni joined Dube and Chennai still needing 56 off the final five overs.

Before the match, Fleming tried to tamper expectations of a turnaround in Chennai's fortunes from making the veteran Dhoni the replacement captain for the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad. But Dhoni's cameo of four boundaries and a six were exactly what Chennai needed.

Dhoni brought down the target to 31 off three overs when he smashed a one-handed six to Thakur’s final ball of the 17th over.

Thakur was smacked for 19 runs in the 19th over in which Bishnoi couldn’t hold onto a regulation catch of Dhoni. Dube sealed the win with a cover-driven boundary off Avesh Khan.

Chennai fast bowlers Khaleel Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj clipped Lucknow early when they dismissed Aiden Markram and the dangerous Nicholas Pooran.

Tripathi grabbed a stunning two-handed catch over his shoulders after he sprinted from the covers when Markram top-edged Khaleel in the first over. Kamboj pinned Pooran plumb leg before while bowling round the wicket.

Rishabh Pant, who has been struggling for runs since taking over the reins of the Lucknow captaincy, started confidently until Afghanistan wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad bowled 10 dot balls to the left-hander.

Pant opened up after reaching 40 off 39 balls when he smashed successive sixes off fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana and raised a 42-ball half-century. But he fell to the Sri Lanka pacer in the final over when he top-edged a slower ball.

Cameos from Mitchell Marsh and Ayush Badoni were undone by Jadeja, Abdul Samad was run out in the final over, and Lucknow's total was about 10-15 runs below par.

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Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' Mitchell Marsh cleans bowled by Chennai Super Kings' Ravindra Jadeja during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Chennai Super Kings' Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the dismissal of Lucknow Super Giants' Ayush Badoni during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' Abdul Samad runs out during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' Rathi celebrates the dismissal of Chennai Super Kings' Vijay Shankar during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' captain Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Lucknow Super Giants' captain Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

Chennai Super Kings' Shivam Dube plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, India, Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.

The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.

Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.

Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.

Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.

Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)