HYDERABAD, India: Pace bowler Mohammed Siraj returned figures of 4-17 to set up a third straight IPL win for Gujarat Titans as they hammered Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets on Sunday.
Hyderabad-born Siraj kept up his bowling form in the T20 tournament this season with nine wickets in four matches and kept down hosts Hyderabad to 152-8.
Skipper Shubman Gill hit an unbeaten 61 as Gujarat, champions in their debut season in 2022, overhauled the total with 20 balls to spare for their third victory in four matches.
Hyderabad, who lost the IPL final to Kolkata Knight Riders last year, remain at the bottom of the 10-team table with four successive defeats from five outings.
Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins struck early to dent Gujarat’s chase when he had Jos Buttler out for a duck after fellow quick Mohammed Shami had removed opener Sai Sudharsan.
Gill and number four Washington Sundar, a left-hand batter who smashed 49 off 29 balls, put the chase on track in their stand of 90 after Gujarat slipped to 16-2.
Shami denied Sundar his fifty with Aniket Verma taking a good catch in the deep, a decision that left the batsman and the Gujarat camp disappointed.
Impact substitute Sherfane Rutherford, a West Indian left-hander, kept up the charge with a flurry of boundaries including four in a row off Abhishek’s left-arm spin to ease into the chase.
Rutherford smashed 35 off 16 balls laced with six fours and one six. Gill anchored the chase in his 43-ball knock and hit the winning run.
Siraj remained hero as he removed openers Travis Head, for eight in the first over, and then another left-hander Abhishek Sharma, for 18, to hurt Hyderabad.
Prasidh Krishna took down left-hander Ishan Kishan for 17 before Sai Kishore took charge with his left-arm spin to rattle the opposition middle-order.
Kishore sent back Heinrich Klaasen, for 27, and Nitish Reddy, for 31, as Hyderabad wobbled and Siraj came back with two wickets with the old ball in his final over.
Cummins smashed 22 off nine balls in a late blitz that got his team 17 runs from the 20th over off veteran pace bowler Ishant Sharma, who leaked 53 of his four.

SUZUKA: Four-time world champion Max Verstappen led from pole to checkered flag to win the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, his first victory of the 2025 season, with McLaren’s Lando Norris second.

The Dutch Red Bull driver crossed the finish line almost 1.5 seconds in front of Briton Norris, who held off his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri of Australia in third.

The win on a damp but drying track at Suzuka was Verstappen’s fourth straight victory in Japan and closed the gap on Norris at the top of the drivers’ championship to one point.

Norris now has 62 points after three races, with Verstappen on 61 and Piastri third on 49.

“It was tough. The McLarens were pushing me very hard,” said Verstappen.

“It was a lot of fun but not easy pushing the tires. I am incredibly happy.

“Starting on pole made it possible to win.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth ahead of the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was seventh, with RB’s Isack Hadjar next ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Haas’s Oliver Bearman.

Yuki Tsunoda finished 12th in his first race for Red Bull since replacing Liam Lawson, having started from 14th on the grid in his home grand prix. Lawson was 17th for RB.

Norris said the race was won and lost in qualifying, where Verstappen pulled off a lap for the ages to claim his first pole of the season with a new lap record.

“Max drove a good race today, made no mistakes,” said Norris, who started from second on the grid.

“A flat-out race from start to finish, so it was tough but there was nothing we could get Max on.”

Verstappen and Norris were involved in a flashpoint midway through the race as the two front-runners emerged from
a pit stop.

Norris drew alongside Verstappen but the Dutchman refused to budge and Norris was forced onto the grass before sliding back onto the track.

Stewards reviewed the incident and decided not to investigate further and Norris admitted later it was just part of racing.

“Max is the last guy I expect to give me any space, in a good way, in a racing way,” he said.

Verstappen has struggled to get to grips with his Red Bull this season, finishing second in Australia and fourth in China.

But he set a stunning pole lap and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hailed the way Verstappen has kept the team in the title race.

“There’s no better tonic for motivation than winning,” said Horner.

“Verstappen is like Mr. Motivator. It was a flat-out race, there was no tire saving.

“For us all priority is on the drivers’ championship, for us the constructors’ will be harder.”

McLaren’s double podium extended their lead in the constructors’ title race to 36 points over Mercedes. McLaren have 111 points, Mercedes are second on 75 with Red Bull third on 61, all scored by Verstappen.

Eighteen-year-old rookie Antonelli briefly took the mid-race lead while Verstappen and Norris were in the pits, to become Formula One’s youngest-ever race leader.

Verstappen, back in the lead after Antonelli’s stop, was given the green light to push until the end of the race.

Piastri told his team “I have the pace to get Max” but Norris would not cede second and Verstappen could not be caught.