Pant leads the chase as Lucknow beats Hyderabad by 5 wickets with 1 ball remaining

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Skipper Rishabh Pant led a successful chase on Sunday in Indian Premier League cricket with 68 not out off 50 balls as Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets with one ball remaining for its first win this season.

Pant hit nine fours but no sixes in his first half-century of the season, and opener Aiden Markram scored a 27-ball 45 as Lucknow finished with 160-5 in 19.5 overs in reply to Hyderabad’s 156-9.

Hyderabad’s top order failed to get going again, and it was reduced to 26-4 before Heinrich Klaasen (62) and Nitish Reddy (56) revived the innings.

Pacer Mohammed Shami picked up 2-9 in four overs for Lucknow. Prince Yadav (2-34) and Avesh Khan (2-36) also contributed.

It was a second loss for Hyderabad in three games this season.

Put into bat, Hyderabad struggled against Shami’s pace. Abhishek Sharma was out for a two-ball duck, while opening partner Travis Head was caught for seven.

A major blow came when in-form Ishan Kishan was bowled for just one to leave Hyderabad at 11-3 in 3.3 overs. That became 26-4 when Liam Livingstone was caught behind for 14 off wrist spinner Digvesh Rathi (1-46).

The Klaasen-Reddy partnership resisted though, adding 116 off 63 balls for the fifth wicket. South African Klaasen scored a second consecutive half-century — off 33 balls – following up on his 52 against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Reddy hit 50 off 30 balls and their 100-stand came off only 56 balls.

Left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth got the breakthrough in the 18th over with Reddy caught at deep cover. Three balls later, Klaasen was caught behind in another serious blow to Hyderabad at the death.

The Sunrisers lost four wickets for only 12 runs off the last 12 balls to lose all momentum and finished with a sub-par score.

In reply, Lucknow lost Mitchell Marsh for 14 but Markram still got his team off to a swift start. He hit two sixes and six fours, adding 40 off 28 balls with Pant for the second wicket.

Markram was dismissed just prior to the halfway stage but Pant was still there. He reached 50 off 43 balls, anchoring the innings with a 20th half century in the IPL.

Ayush Badoni (12), Nicholas Pooran (1) and Abdul Samad (16) fell cheaply in the middle order but Pant finished the job for Lucknow.

In Sunday’s late game, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru faced Chennai Super Kings in the southern derby in Bengaluru.

Chennai won the toss and chose to bowl first.

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

Lucknow Super Giants' Mohammed Shami, centre, celebrates with teammates the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Travis Head during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad, India, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen celebrates his fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad, India, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Lucknow Super Giants' captain Rishabh Pant hits a boundary during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants in Hyderabad, India, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Donald Trump announced early Sunday that the U.S. had rescued an aviator nearly two days after he was shot down over Iran.

The extraction came after a frantic search in what appears to be a remote, mountainous region of Iran. A second crew member had been rescued Friday, soon after the F-15E Strike Eagle crashed. It was the first U.S. aircraft to be downed by Iranian fire since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

“This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. Pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in Enemy Territory," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AN AMERICAN WARFIGHTER BEHIND!”

Here’s what we know about the rescue:

Trump noted that Friday's rescue of the first airman was conducted in “broad daylight." The White House avoided confirming the rescue to avoid jeopardizing the search for the second aviator, which was conducted overnight Saturday into Sunday.

That overnight rescue involved “dozens of aircraft,” armed with lethal weaponry, Trump said. Iran had promised a sizable reward to anyone who captured the service member.

Throughout the ordeal, the U.S. had been monitoring the fallen airman's location “24 hours a day, and diligently planning for his rescue," Trump said.

“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” he wrote.

Trump said the airman held the rank of colonel and had been seriously wounded. Nonetheless, Trump said he would be “just fine."

Trump gave no details about the first crewman's condition.

Iran’s state TV showed a picture of black smoke from what it said were a destroyed American transport plane and two helicopters.

A regional intelligence official briefed on the mission said the U.S. military was forced to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue due to a technical malfunction. The official said the U.S. blew up two transport planes it was forced to leave because of the mishap. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.

Iranian state media on Friday also said a second U.S. plane — an A-10 aircraft — crashed after being hit by Iranian forces. The U.S. military has not commented on the status of that aircraft or its crew.

Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, black smoke rises into the air at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site where an American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation were shot down, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)