Gill and Buttler bat Gujarat up to second in IPL after big win over Hyderabad

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Captain Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler lashed half-centuries as Gujarat Titans defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 38 runs in the Indian Premier League on Friday.

Gujarat racked up 224-6 thanks to Gill’s 76 off 38 balls, Buttler’s 64 off 37 and Sai Sudharsan's 48 off 23, and Hyderabad never look threatening as it was restricted to 186-6.

Fast bowlers Prasidh Krishna, 2-19, and Mohammed Siraj, 2-33, stalled Hyderabad's chase.

Hyderabad top-scorer Abhishek Sharma, with 74, got little support from the other end.

The win lifted Gujarat to second on the 10-team table, while Hyderabad, a finalist last year, lay at ninth and on the brink of elimination from playoffs contention.

The 225 target was steep, and only steeper after Krishna removed opener Travis Head for 20 to Rashid Khan's stunning diving catch and No. 4 Klaasen for 23.

Ishan Kishan continued to struggle since his century in the opening game as he labored for 17 balls to 13 runs, and Gerald Coetzee, playing his first match of the season, found a leading edge and gave Krishna a regulation catch at deep third man.

Sharma did the bulk of the scoring and hit six sixes and four boundaries before Gujarat sealed the game with four wickets for six runs within 12 balls.

Siraj took out Aniket Verma and Kamindu Mendis for a combined three runs and was on a hat trick but captain Pat Cummins defended it.

Hyderabad, apart from Sharma though, struggled to pose a threat.

Openers Gill and Sudharsan set the platform for Gujarat.

Their electrifying 82 runs together off 41 balls in the powerplay, including 13 boundaries, was Gujarat’s best ever.

The left-handed Sudharsan, who smashed five boundaries in one over off Mohammed Shami, became the leading run-scorer in this IPL. He's also the second fastest batter in Twenty20s to complete 2,000 runs, in 54 matches.

Sudharsan was out in the seventh over, caught behind, but Buttler joined Gill and upped the ante with smart, powerful hitting.

Gill reached his fifty in 25 balls, and was run out at 149-2 on a single he called, by Harshal Patel’s throw deflected by wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen. Gill hit 10 fours and two sixes.

Buttler, dropped on 22 by Cummins, reached his fifty in 31 balls. He eventually fell to a catch on the boundary off a Cummins delivery in the penultimate over.

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

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans players celebrates the dismissal of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Ishan Kishan during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' Prasidh Krishna celebrates the dismissal of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Travis Head during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans players celebrates the dismissal of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Travis Head during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain Pat Cummins, left, and Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma celebrates the dismissal of Gujarat Titans' Jos Butler during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' Jos Butler plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' Jos Butler plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' captain Shubman Gill celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' captain Shubman Gill, right, and Sai Sudharsan greets each other during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' Sai Sudharsan plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

Gujarat Titans' captain Shubman Gill plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Siddharaj Solanki)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions and Olympic favorites Ilia Malinin and the ice dance team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates turned the final night of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday into less of a competition and more of a coronation.

Malinin easily won his fourth straight title despite a dialed-back free skate that included just three quads — still more than anyone in the field, but far fewer than the seven it could include. And the duo of Chock and Bates won their record seventh championship with a flamenco-style free dance set to a version of “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi Western show “Westworld.”

They will be the anchors for a powerful American team headed to the Milan Cortina Games in less than a month.

“I decided not to go for any risks. I wanted to play it safe, because hopefully in a few weeks I have to go again,” Malinin said.

Malinin finished with 324.88 points to continue an unbeaten streak stretching more than two years. Andrew Torgashev was a distant second with 267.62 points, while Maxim Naumov finished third by less than a tenth of a point over Jacob Sanchez.

In doing so, Naumov may have fulfilled a dream he held along with his late parents.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were among those killed when an American Airlines flight collided with a helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations the couple had with their son was about what it would take for the 24-year-old Naumov to earn one of three men's spots on the upcoming Olympic team.

“I gritted my teeth on everything. I fought on everything. If I had to crawl, I would crawl to the end,” Naumov said, “but I made it.”

Chock and Bates, the three-time reigning world champions, wound up with 228.87 points following the free dance. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik were second with 213.65 while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were third with 206.95.

Those three are expected to fill out the American dance team for the Olympics when official selections are announced Sunday.

“The feeling that we got from the audience today was unlike anything I've ever felt before,” said Chock, who along with Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Olympics four years ago, but finished a disappointing fourth in the ice dance.

“Our performance was definitely the best we've skated the free dance all year,” Bates said, “and it shows the plan is working, and we like to build momentum through the season. It's a great feeling going into a big event knowing you skated well the previous event.”

Chock and Bates will be heavy favorites to win gold next month in Italy.

Just like their 21-year-old teammate from Fairfax, Virginia.

Malinin was somewhat controversially left off the American team for Beijing, when U.S. Figure Skating officials chose the more experienced Jason Brown over him. Rather than sulk, the self-styled “Quad God” with the unique, avant-garde style turned the four years since then into an unstoppable march through just about every competition he has entered.

This season, he won the the lower-level Lombardia Trophy, the Grand Prix de France, Skate America and his third consecutive Grand Prix Final, the most prestigious event outside of the Olympics and the world championships.

Skating to a musical medley featuring his own voice-over, Malinin opened with a quad flip, then landed a triple axel, before hitting a triple lutz rather than a quad lutz. Malinin added a quad lutz and a quad salchow-triple axel combination later in the program, almost as if to remind folks that even when he's playing it safe, he can still land the big jumps whenever he wants.

Skating to “In This Shirt” by The Irrepressibles, Naumov landed an opening quad salchow but tripled his other planned quad. He was otherwise solid on his jumps, other than spinning out on his last combination jump, and earned his own standing ovation.

It was an emotional week for Naumov, who brought to the kiss-and-cry area an old photo of him with his parents.

The 24-year-old Torgashev, who is half Ukrainian and still has family in the war-torn country, landed both of his quads during a clean free skate, one of them in combination with a double axel. He also one-handed cartwheeled across the ice, and he punched the air at the finish, once he was done spinning like a top in the middle of the ice.

It was an emphatic statement by Torgashev for his inclusion on the Olympic team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Maxim Naumov holds a photo of his parents after competing during the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Ilia Malinin competes during the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko skate during the free dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik skate during the free dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik react to their scores after the free dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik skate during the free dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the free dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)