VISAKHAPATNAM, India (AP) — Faf du Plessis scored 50 off 27 balls as Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets on Sunday to secure a second consecutive win in the Indian Premier League.
The 40-year-old du Plessis hit three fours and three sixes as he put on 81 off 55 balls for the first wicket with Jake Fraser-McGurk (38) helping Delhi chase down the 164-run target with four overs to spare.
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Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad runs between the wickets to score during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad bats during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Rajasthan Royals' Nitish Rana reacts after being stumped out by Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni, left, walks off the field after losing his wicket as Rajasthan Royals' Nitish Rana reacts during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain Pat Cummins plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Kuldeep Yadav celebrates the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhinav Manohar during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Axar Patel cheer his teammates during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Faf du Plessis celebrates his century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Wiaan Mulder takes catch to dismiss Delhi Capitals' Faf du Plessis during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's team members celebrate the dismissal of Delhi Capitals' Faf du Plessis during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Abishek Porel plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Abishek Porel plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel celebrate their win in the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain Pat Cummins shakes hands with Delhi Capitals' Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel at the end of their Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Earlier, Mitchell Starc picked up 5-35 in 3.4 overs to help bowl out Hyderabad for 163 runs in 18.4 overs. Delhi finished with 166-3 in 16 overs.
It was Starc’s maiden five-wicket haul in his fourth IPL season, and helped Delhi climb to second in the points table with two wins from two games.
In Guwahati, Rajasthan Royals got its first win of the season — a narrow six-run victory over Chennai Super Kings.
Nitish Rana’s 81 off 36 balls helped Rajasthan score 182-9 in 20 overs. Despite Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 63 off 44 balls, Chennai fell short on 176-6 for a second loss in three games.
Hyderabad had opted to bat first but lost its way early in the innings. Hard-hitting opener Abhishek Sharma was run out for one, and the visitors were soon reduced to 37-4 in 4.1 overs.
Ishan Kishan, a centurion in the previous game, was out caught for two, while Nitish Reddy was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
Starc also sent back fellow Australian Travis Head – caught behind for 22 off 12 balls leaving Hyderabad’s innings in tatters.
Aniket Verma (74) then smacked a maiden half-century in his third IPL game to help rescue the innings.
Verma hit six towering sixes, and another five fours, as he raced to 50 off 34 balls. In doing so, he put on 77 off 42 balls with Heinrich Klaasen, who scored 32 off 19 balls including two sixes.
Their fifth-wicket stand helped Hyderabad cross 100, and Verma’s assault almost pushed Delhi onto the back foot. But Klaasen miss-hit and was caught in the 11th over to balance the scales again.
Kuldeep Yadav picked up 3-22 in four overs as Hyderabad’s tail failed to wag with six wickets lost for 49 runs in the space of 47 balls to finish with an under-par total.
In reply, du Plessis and Fraser-McGurk set the opening pace for Delhi. Debutant spinner Zeeshan Ansari struck thrice to peg Delhi back, including removing both set openers in the space of six balls hallway through.
But it wasn’t enough as Abhishek Porel smacked 34 not out off 18 balls including two sixes, while Lokesh Rahul – in his maiden outing for the Capitals – also hit 15 off 5 balls.
Ansari bowled Rahul for his third wicket, even as Tristan Stubbs rounded off the game with 21 not out off 14 balls. He put on 51 off 28 balls with Porel as Delhi won with 24 balls remaining.
It was Hyderabad’s second loss in three games, while Delhi built on its surprise win over Lucknow SuperGiants in the first game.
Sri Lanka wrist spinner Wanindu Hasaranga took 4-35 for Rajasthan, while Sandeep Sharma defended 20 off the last over.
Chennai’s chase faltered as Jofra Archer (1-13 in three overs) had opener Rachin Ravindra caught for a four-ball duck. Gaikwad made good on his form with a second half-century this season – 50 off 37 balls.
Rahul Tripathi (23) and Shivam Dube (18) chipped in with cameos, but Hasaranga struck at regular intervals to peg Chennai back at every opportunity.
He also provided the turning point – Gaikwad was caught off Hasaranga in the 16th over after hitting a six. Ravindra Jadeja scored 32 not out off 22 balls, adding 35 off 20 with MS Dhoni (16), but the finish line proved too far.
Earlier, Rajasthan struggled to get going after it was put into bat. Yashasvi Jaiswal (4) failed to impress again and Sanju Samson was caught for 20.
Chennai made inroads at one end, while Rana held the other together. Stand-in skipper Riyan Parag scored 37 off 28 balls before he was bowled by Matheesha Pathirana (2-28).
Rana meanwhile scored 50 off 21 balls, including three sixes, and then hit another two sixes. He also hit 10 fours and kept Rajasthan’s scoring rate up.
His crucial half-century helped the Royals reach a par score, which its bowlers were able to defend successfully.
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Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad celebrates after scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad runs between the wickets to score during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Chennai Super Kings' captain Ruturaj Gaikwad bats during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Rajasthan Royals' Nitish Rana reacts after being stumped out by Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Chennai Super Kings' Mahendra Singh Dhoni, left, walks off the field after losing his wicket as Rajasthan Royals' Nitish Rana reacts during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain Pat Cummins plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Kuldeep Yadav celebrates the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Abhinav Manohar during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Axar Patel cheer his teammates during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Faf du Plessis celebrates his century during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's Wiaan Mulder takes catch to dismiss Delhi Capitals' Faf du Plessis during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's team members celebrate the dismissal of Delhi Capitals' Faf du Plessis during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Abishek Porel plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Abishek Porel plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Delhi Capitals' Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel celebrate their win in the Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain Pat Cummins shakes hands with Delhi Capitals' Tristan Stubbs and Abishek Porel at the end of their Indian Premier League cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal Tuesday in an overhaul ultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people. The notices came just days after President Donald Trump moved to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights at HHS and other agencies throughout the government.
At the National Institutes of Health, the world's leading health and medical agency, the layoffs occurred as its new director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, began his first day of work.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan last week to remake the department, which, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, and monitoring the safety of food and medicine, as well as for administering health insurance programs for nearly half the country.
The plan would consolidate agencies that oversee billions of dollars for addiction services and community health centers under a new office called the Administration for a Healthy America.
The layoffs are expected to shrink HHS to 62,000 positions, lopping off nearly a quarter of its staff — 10,000 jobs through layoffs and another 10,000 workers who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers. Many of the jobs are based in the Washington area, but also in Atlanta, where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based, and in smaller offices throughout the country.
Two lines with hundreds of employees wrapped around the HHS headquarters building Tuesday morning. Workers waited in the chilly spring weather to be individually scanned in for access to the building. Some said they were waiting to find out if they still had jobs. Others gathered at local coffee shops and lunch spots after being turned away, finding out they had been eliminated after decades of service.
One wondered aloud if it was a cruel April Fools' Day joke.
At the NIH, the cuts included at least four directors of the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers who were put on administrative leave, and nearly entire communications staffs were terminated, according to an agency senior leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.
An email viewed by The Associated Press shows some senior-level employees of the Bethesda, Maryland, campus who were placed on leave were offered a possible transfer to the Indian Health Service in locations including Alaska and given until the end of Wednesday to respond.
At the Food and Drug Administration, dozens of staffers who regulate drugs and tobacco products received notices, including the entire office responsible for drafting new regulations for electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products. The notices came as the FDA’s tobacco chief was removed from his position. Elsewhere at the agency, more than a dozen press officers and communications supervisors were notified that their jobs would be eliminated.
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed," said former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in an online post. Califf stepped down at the end of the Biden administration.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington predicted the cuts will have ramifications when natural disasters strike or infectious diseases, like the ongoing measles outbreak, spread.
“They may as well be renaming it the Department of Disease because their plan is putting lives in serious jeopardy,” Murray said Friday.
The CDC has not provided a breakdown of cuts, but employees in different parts of the organization described to the AP extensive layoffs in programs that track asthma, air pollution, smoking, gun violence, reproductive health, climate change and other health threats.
The intent seems to be to create “a much smaller, infectious disease agency,” but it is destroying a wide array of work and collaborations that have enabled local and national governments to be able to prevent deaths and respond to emergencies, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.
Among the hardest-hit centers was the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, with more than 1,000 employees. NIOSH is based in Cincinnati but also has people in Pittsburgh; Spokane, Washington; and Morgantown, West Virginia.
Cuts were less drastic at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where the Trump administration wants to avoid the appearance of debilitating the health insurance programs that cover roughly half of Americans, many of them poor, disabled and elderly.
But the impact will still be felt, with the department slashing much of the workforce at the Office of Minority Health, which no longer has a functioning webpage.
Jeffrey Grant, a former CMS deputy director, said the office is not part of a diversity, equity and inclusion program, the kind Trump's Republican administration has sought to end.
“This is not a DEI initiative. This is meeting people where they are and meeting their specific health needs,” said Grant, who resigned last month and now helps place laid-off CMS employees into new jobs.
The Office of Program Operations & Local Engagement, which does local outreach for CMS operations, was also gutted, Grant said.
Beyond layoffs at federal health agencies, cuts are beginning at state and local health departments as a result of an HHS move last week to pull back more than $11 billion in COVID-19-related money. Some health departments have identified hundreds of jobs that stand to be eliminated, “some of them overnight, some of them are already gone,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
A coalition of state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, arguing the cuts are illegal, would reverse progress on the opioid crisis and would throw mental health systems into chaos.
Kennedy criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy” in a video Thursday announcing the restructuring. He said the department’s $1.7 trillion yearly budget “has failed to improve the health of Americans.”
“I want to promise you now that we’re going to do more with less,” Kennedy said.
The department on Thursday provided a breakdown of some of the cuts.
__ 3,500 jobs at the FDA, which inspects and sets safety standards for medications, medical devices and foods.
__ 2,400 jobs at the CDC, which monitors for infectious disease outbreaks and works with public health agencies nationwide.
__ 1,200 jobs at the NIH.
__ 300 jobs at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the Affordable Care Act marketplace, Medicare and Medicaid.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Hundreds of employees wait in line wrapped around the outside of the Health and Human Services headquarters building, Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Amanda Seitz)
Hundreds of employees wait in line wrapped around the outside of the Health and Human Services headquarters building, Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Amanda Seitz)
Hundreds of employees wait in line wrapped around the outside of the Health and Human Services headquarters building, Tuesday morning, April 1, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Amanda Seitz)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an event announcing proposed changes to SNAP and food dye legislation, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Martinsburg, W. Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
FILE - The Department of Health and Human Services building is seen in Washington, April 5, 2009.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)