NEW DELHI (AP) — Delhi Capitals batter Lokesh Rahul hammered a record 152 not out in 67 balls in vain as the Punjab Kings won and pulled off the most successful run chase in Indian Premier League history on Saturday.
In the evening, Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets at Jaipur, as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 103 off 37 balls went in vain as well.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Sooryavanshi celebrates his century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul celebrates his century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul, right, celebrates after hits a six with batting partner Nitish Rana during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul, left, and batting partner Nitish Rana touch gloves during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul leaves the field at the end of the first inning of the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul celebrates after scoring one hundred and fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Punjab charged to 265-4 and a six-wicket win in 18.5 overs in reply to Delhi’s 264-2. Opener Prabhsimran Singh led the chase with 76 off 26 balls, including five sixes and nine fours.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer also bludgeoned 71 not out in 36 deliveries, with seven sixes, as Punjab surpassed its own record for the previous highest successful run chase when it made 262-2 against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024. Priyansh Arya chipped in with 43 off 17 balls, including five sixes.
Earlier, opener Rahul notched the highest IPL score by an Indian batter, going past Abhishek Sharma’s 141 for Sunrisers Hyderabad — also against Punjab — in 2025.
Rahul smashed nine sixes and 16 fours in his sixth IPL century, while Nitish Rana hit 91 off 44 balls as Delhi scored its highest ever total in the competition.
Prabhsimran and Priyansh Arya, who made 43 in 17 balls, gave Punjab a speedy start.
The game was halted for 14 minutes when Lungi Ngidi suffered a head injury while fielding. The Delhi paceman was taken to hospital.
Unbeaten IPL leader Punjab has six wins in seven games with one no-result. Delhi's loss was its fourth of the campaign as it slipped to sixth in the table.
Rahul and Nitish Rana faced 95 balls together and batted until the penultimate over, putting on a mammoth 220 runs for the second wicket.
It was the second highest partnership in IPL history for any wicket, after 229 runs between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Gujarat Lions in 2016.
Rahul scored 50 off 26 balls, then accelerated to his hundred off another 21 balls — 100 overall off 47 balls with 12 fours and five sixes.
His next 50 came off only 19 balls, as he hit another four sixes and another four fours.
Rana's 91 off 44 included 11 boundaries and four sixes.
In reply, Prabhsimran and Arya scored 116-0 in the powerplay overs, another record. It was the second highest powerplay score in IPL history.
Arya smashed Mukesh Kumar for six fours and 24 runs in the sixth over. Prabhsimran meanwhile, raced to 50 off 18 balls, including three sixes off Aquib Nabi in the fourth over.
Arya was caught at deep midwicket in the seventh over, and four balls later Prabhsimran was out lbw to Kuldeep Yadav.
The chase was picked up by captain Iyer and impact player Nehal Wadhera. Iyer hit 50 off 26 balls — his fourth half-century of the season — and drove Punjab past 200, taking 23 runs off Kuldeep Yadav’s 16th over.
The skipper was dropped twice as Punjab won with an astonishing seven balls to spare.
The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi hit his second IPL hundred as Rajasthan put up 228-6. He hit 12 sixes to get to his century off 36 balls.
Hyderabad replied with 229-5 in 18.3 overs.
For company, Sooryavanshi had Dhruv Jurel, who scored 51 off 35. They added 112 off 62 balls for the second wicket. Donovan Ferreira’s 33 off 16 balls pushed Rajasthan past 200.
For Hyderabad, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan put on 132 off 55 balls for the second wicket.
Sharma scored 57 off 29 with 11 fours and a six. Kishan reached 50 off 24 balls. He also hit 11 fours and three sixes.
Hyderabad climbed to third in the table, with its fifth win in eight games. Rajasthan was fourth, also with five wins but trailing on net run-rate.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rajasthan Royals' Vaibhav Sooryavanshi celebrates his century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul celebrates his century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul, right, celebrates after hits a six with batting partner Nitish Rana during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul, left, and batting partner Nitish Rana touch gloves during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul leaves the field at the end of the first inning of the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul celebrates after scoring one hundred and fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in New Delhi, India, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Knowing New York had waited 53 years to see the Knicks hoist the NBA championship trophy, owner James Dolan didn't even wait to be handed the 30-pound gold-plated prize.
He grabbed it and lifted it skyward with a yell.
“I want to say something to New York,” Dolan shouted. “Hey New York! I'm sorry it took so long! But here we are, and hopefully it won't take that long again!”
The New York Knicks are champions of the NBA for the first time since 1973, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games for this title. The clincher came Saturday night in a 94-90 victory, the Knicks' fourth comeback win of the series.
Some will say it’s the first “major” professional sports championship for New York in more than 14 years; that would be true when counting only Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NHL and the NBA, though it would be wrong to ignore the New York Liberty’s run to the 2024 WNBA title and New York City FC winning the MLS Cup in 2021.
But as far as the teams that have been part of the city’s fabric for generations and generations, yes, this 14-year drought is finally over. The New York Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012, capping the 2011 season.
The Yankees — the most decorated team in U.S. major pro sports history — haven’t won a World Series since 2009. The Mets haven’t brought a World Series title to New York since 1986. The Rangers last hoisted that trophy in 1994, the Islanders in 1983. The New York Jets haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1969.
None of that matters, at least not right now. The Knicks — who won 13 consecutive games at one point in this playoff run and rallied from 29 points down to win Game 4 of the finals at MSG — are the toast of the town.
“Of course I've never seen anything like it, because it'd never happened before,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the Game 4 comeback in an interview on NBA TV on Saturday. “But it's been amazing."
The Amazin' Knicks, indeed.
It took them 80 years — the Knicks won the first game in NBA history in 1946, three years before what was then the Basketball Association of America started being known as the National Basketball Association — but the franchise has now become the ninth that can say it has at least three championships.
Boston has 18, the Los Angeles Lakers have 17, Golden State has seven, Chicago has six, San Antonio has five, and Philadelphia, Detroit and Miami all have three.
Welcome to the club, New York.
“I enjoy watching these guys," Knicks legend Larry Johnson said. "The Garden is back. ... It’s back like when we played and made our little run. The city is behind us.”
It's a franchise that has gone through 24 different coaches and more than 400 players since what was, until now, the most recent championship season. Some of the game’s biggest superstars called Madison Square Garden home and couldn’t end the title drought, names like Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Bernard King and Carmelo Anthony.
The Knicks lost a Game 7 in the 1994 finals to Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston, then made a miracle run to the 1999 finals in a shortened season only to lose to San Antonio in five games — the first of what became five championships for Gregg Popovich and the Spurs.
“We didn’t get it done. ... I always say the third time is the charm,” former Knicks guard John Starks said.
Starks was right. It took the Knicks 27 years to get back to the finals, had the Spurs again standing in their way, and to fully flip the script, it was New York prevailing in five games.
And finally, the world's most famous arena — which has raised banners for Billy Joel, Elton John and Harry Styles more recently than it had hoisted one for the Knicks — will be adding to the collection swaying from the rafters. If it follows form from the others, the banner will only have the Knicks logo, then 2025-26 World Champions beneath that.
A simple message. Getting to the place where the Knicks could say those words again, that wasn't so simple.
“There are a couple of franchises that are pretty iconic just because of the history that they have, the location that they’re in, sometimes even the building that they’re in,” said Knicks coach Mike Brown, who won this title in his first season with the club. "New York is definitely one of the few that you could say that to in all three facets.
“Everybody goes through their ups and downs. I don’t really think much about the tough times that they had, because everybody has tough times, including individuals. You just want to try the best you can to be a part of whatever you can to bring joy to the city, to the organization. At the end of the day, the chips are going to fall how they fall. I feel blessed, fortunate, lucky, to be a part of what is going on now.”
It is, to put it mildly, an interesting organization. Dolan — who rarely speaks publicly — isn't afraid of clashes, even including ones with former Knicks greats like Charles Oakley, who was at road games in this title run but has remained away from MSG for years. Leon Rose, the team's president, typically doesn't make himself available to reporters either. There is an absolute mystique around the team and how it operates.
It has not always worked. Over a 25-year stretch that ended with the 2021-22 season — not that long ago — the Knicks had the worst record in the NBA. In the four years since, starting with the acquisition of Jalen Brunson from Dallas, the Knicks have the NBA's fifth-best record.
And now, Brunson — the finals MVP — is the best player on the best team in the world.
“It means the world to me,” Brunson said.
And this year, as Frank Sinatra said, the Knicks are king of the hill, top of the heap. Some in the fan base grumbled when the Knicks declined to hang an NBA Cup championship banner after beating San Antonio for the in-season tournament title earlier this season. Turns out, the Knicks were just waiting for something better.
So, the 53-year wait is over. It was a very different league, and a very different game, in 1973.
There were 17 teams in the NBA that season, barely half of the 30 that there are now. Teams called places Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City-Omaha and Seattle home then; the league has expanded many times since, adding 13 teams in nine different states, plus Canada and the District of Columbia.
The top salary in the league then was about $380,000, or roughly $2.9 million in today’s dollars. There was no 3-point line then, no multi-billion-dollar television deal, no international players.
The Knicks flew home on a United Airlines flight from the 1973 title clincher in Inglewood, California, and officials at Kennedy Airport expected what was then called a “rabid” crowd of fans present to greet the plane. They braced for “hundreds” of people that day.
This celebration might be a little bigger.
“To have the fans that we have in New York City and be able to bring home a championship after all these years is absolutely amazing,” Brown said. “It’s a surreal feeling.”
AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
The New York Knicks celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, right, hugs forward Og Anunoby during the after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
The New York Knicks celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The New York Knicks celebrate after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
New York Knicks fans celebrate after winning Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the San Antonio Spurs, Saturday, June 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
