Kagiso Rabada of South Africa led an inspired pace attack as the Gujarat Titans surged to the top IPL table with a crushing 82-run defeat of Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.
In Ahmedabad, hosts Gujarat defended 168 as Rabada followed up figures of 3-28 by with his fellow quicks routed Hyderabad for just 86, the lowest in IPL history.
Fellow fast Jason Holder mopped up the Hyderabad middle and lower-order with 3-20.
The former champions Gujarat jumped above Hyderabad and defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the number top of 10 teams table to move one step closer to being confirmed a playoff spot.
Gujarat now have 16 points, winning eight of their 12 matches and look set to secure a top-two finish after the league stage.
The top four qualify for the playoffs with a lucky two to have an added advantage of making it through to Ahmedabad on May 31.
Gujarat’s Mohammed Siraj rocked the Hyderabad top order early, sending Travis Head back for a duck with the fourth ball of their innings.
Rabada dismissed menacing Abhishek for six in the following over and then took two wickets in his next two overs, having skipper Ishan Kishan (11) caught behind off Jos Buttler before Ravichandran Smaranto’s (9) miscue flew to Shubman Gill at mid-off.
Holder claimed two in one over, the second to end Heinrich Klaasen’s escape that saw him make 14 and return top of this season’s IPL batting chart with a total so far of 508 runs.
Gujarat bowled out Hyderabad in under 15 overs as Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan had Praful Hinge lbw for the last wicket.
Sai Sudharsan (61) and Washington Sundar (45) added 60 for the fourth wicket, rescuing Gujarat from early trouble to teach a base of 168-5 which allowed the batsmen to set up victory.
A pair of early wickets, including skipper Gill (5) and Buttler (7), left Gujarat on the backfoot as Hyderabad pacer Hinge struck twice.
Sudharsan fell as he slammed five fours and two sixes in his 44-ball effort, while fellow left-hand bat Sundar helped the team to a challenging total with his run-a-ball 50.