Hyderabad moves atop IPL with 33-run win over Punjab as Connolly's century goes in vain

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Sunrisers Hyderabad recorded their eighth 200-plus score of the season to beat Punjab Kings by 33 runs and replace them atop the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

Cooper Connolly struck his maiden T20 century but the Australian all-rounder’s unbeaten 107 off 59 balls went in vain for Punjab, which finished at 202-7 and lost their third straight game.

Leading run-getter Heinrich Klaasen (69) and Ishan Kishan (55) had earlier capitalized on sloppy Punjab fielding and led Hyderabad to 235-4 as both batters notched aggressive half-centuries after getting early reprieves.

“Punjab are a really good side," Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins said. “No matter what the score is, bowling second against that side was clinical. We’re pretty good at playing it at our pace, it’s just trying to max out.”

Punjab had a terrific start to the season when it stayed unbeaten in the first seven games that included a successful run chase of 265 against Delhi Capitals.

But Hyderabad ensured its record of not losing an IPL game after scoring 220-plus stayed intact as Punjab got derailed inside the first four overs when they slipped to 23-3 and Connolly, who hit eight sixes and seven fours, got little support from the other end in a steep chase.

Cummins (2-34) stifled the chase early when he first had Priyansh Arya caught at deep mid-wicket in the first over and then took smart catches of Prabhsimran Singh and skipper Shreyas Iyer.

After losing top-order batters quickly, Connolly raised his half-century off 34 balls and Marcus Stoinis showed some brief spark with a knock of 28 off 14 balls before spinner Shivang Kumar (2-45) found the thick outside edge of his bat soon after the power play.

Hyderabad was also sloppy in the field when Connolly got dropped twice after his half-century before he raised his hundred in the final over and ensured Punjab played out the full 20 overs by sharing a 68-run seventh wicket stand with Jansen (19).

Earlier, Hyderabad’s aggressive opening pair of Abhishek Sharma (35 off 13 balls) and Travis Head (38 off 19 balls) provided a rollicking start of 54 off 21 balls with Sharma smashing four sixes and two boundaries and Head hitting three sixes and three boundaries.

Both batters came down hard on left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen (0-61), who conceded five sixes and four boundaries in his two expensive spells as first Sharma and Head smashed big hits and then Klaasen clobbered two sixes against his fellow-South African in the death overs.

Punjab’s scratchy fielding allowed Klaasen and Kishan to share an attacking 88-run stand off 48 balls as both batters were dropped before reaching the double figures.

Kishan got dismissed in the 15th over when he holed out at deep mid-wicket, but Nitish Kumar Reddy’s breezy 29 off 13 balls and Klaasen’s clean striking in the death overs lifted the home team’s total.

“It was a bit too much because we dropped catches at the start,” Iyer said. “We got a fairytale start in the tournament, and everyone was in a great space, (but) if we are going to continue with the same form, that’s not going to help us.”

Hyderabad’s seventh win in 11 games moved them into first place on 14 points, one more than Punjab, which got bumped out of the top spot.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad's Nitish Kumar Reddy celebrates the wicket of Punjab Kings' Prabhsimran Singh with teammates during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan after scoring runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Ishan Kishan plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Punjab Kings' Cooper Connolly plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Sunrisers Hyderabad's Heinrich Klaasen plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Missile explosions struck across Ukraine Saturday, wounding at least nine people, as Kyiv and Moscow prepared for new talks next week with the United States.

Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. are to meet on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for talks aimed at ending the war. The new round of negotiations would be the fourth brokered by the Trump administration, the most recent having been in Geneva in February.

Western governments backing the peace initiative are seeking a new formula to break the impasse while acknowledging that territorial and security questions remain unresolved.

The Russian missiles that hit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight damaged homes and commercial properties, triggering new power and water outages, national and city authorities said.

Strikes also prompted officials to close Kyiv's Northern Bridge, a major route that allows commuter traffic in the capital to cross the Dnipro River.

“As a result of the enemy’s night attack, energy facilities in the Kyiv and ... Zhytomyr regions were damaged,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. “The situation with the capital’s energy supply is extremely difficult, affecting the city’s heating and water supply systems.”

In a statement Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing for trilateral talks by “launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.”

The Ukrainian leader said that Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight. The barrage also involved 172 drones over Kyiv and 12 other regions, wounding nine people, including a child, he said.

“When Russia tries to plunge Kyiv — a city of millions — and the entire country into a blackout, Ukraine must not be left to face this alone,” Zelenskyy said. He urged greater US support and attention from Congress, calling for bipartisan backing for Ukraine and stronger sanctions on Russia.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Saturday that it had targeted the Northern Bridge, saying that it facilitated the transport of weaponry, military hardware and specialist equipment for Ukraine’s armed forces.

It also said that it had targeted an industrial facility in the capital producing Flamingo missiles, as well as a power station, an electrical substation, and a plant producing ammunition, explosives and gunpowder in the wider Kyiv region. It also confirmed striking an electrical substation in the Zhytomyr region.

Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a recovery operation continued into its sixth day in the village of Komyshuvakha, devastated on Monday when multiple Russian guided bombs slammed into a former school and nearby shelter as residents waited for humanitarian aid.

Emergency services said they had recovered nine more bodies in the previous 24 hours, bringing the death toll early Saturday morning to 55. Dozens of people remain missing.

Village resident Mykola Krasnov, 72, said he was still looking for his wife but had heard no word from rescuers.

“She went to get humanitarian aid, and a three-ton bomb was dropped there. Where is she?” he said. “She didn’t come home, and they didn’t find her body there. She isn’t in the morgue, and she isn’t here alive.”

The village of Komyshuvakha is located near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.

A Ukrainian attack killed one person in Russia’s Belgorod region when a drone hit a private home in the town of Grayvoron, local officials said Saturday.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday that its forces shot down 411 Ukrainian drones overnight over 10 Russian regions, including Belgorod. Drones were also destroyed over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas, it said.

The head of Russia’s southwestern Saratov region, Gov. Roman Busargin, wrote on social media that a drone attack damaged “civilian infrastructure” and several residential buildings in the area. Russian media outlets later reported that the Saratov Oil Refinery had been hit and shared images of plumes of smoke over the city.

The head of Russia’s Oryol region, Gov. Andrey Klychkov, also said Saturday that a Ukrainian attack had damaged commercial warehouse and production sites in the regional capital, as cited by state media.

Russian media outlets reported that a Ukrainian attack sparked a blaze at Oryol’s Proton-Electrotex plant, which produces components for military equipment.

Associated Press writers Vasilisa Stepanenko in Komyshuvakha, Ukraine, and Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Rescue workers clear rubble to recover bodies from an underground school destroyed in a Russian airstrike in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)