Gujarat Titans defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 82 runs on Tuesday, propelling them to the top of the IPL standings thanks to a brilliant pace attack spearheaded by South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada.
Rabada took 3-28 and, along with his fellow quicks, bowled out Hyderabad for 86, their lowest IPL score ever, as the hosts Gujarat defended 168 in Ahmedabad. Jason Holder, a fellow pacer, claimed 3-20 from his four overs by destroying the Hyderabad middle and lower order.
Former champions Gujarat moved closer to a playoff berth by surpassing Hyderabad and reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the top of the 10-team standings. Gujarat is favored to place in the top two following the league stage with 16 points and eight victories from 12 games.
The top four will go to the playoffs and the top two will get an additional opportunity to advance to the final on May 31 in Ahmedabad.
With the fourth ball of the innings, Gujarat pace spearhead Mohammed Siraj dismissed Travis Head for a duck in the opening over of the Hyderabad chase.
After dismissing the dangerous Abhishek Sharma for six in the following over, Rabada struck twice in his next two overs, with captain Ishan Kishan (11) being caught behind by Jos Buttler and Ravichandran Smaranto (9) miscuing to Shubman Gill at mid-off.
Heinrich Klaasen, who hit 14 to reclaim the top spot in this season’s IPL batting rankings with 508 runs, was among the wickets that continued to fall as Holder claimed two in one over.
Gujarat bundled out Hyderabad in 14.5 overs when Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan caught Praful Hinge LBW for the last wicket.
The batters set up the triumph after Washington Sundar added 60 runs for the fourth wicket and Sai Sudharsan scored 61 to help Gujarat escape early difficulties and reach 168-5.
Gujarat was taken on the defensive by two early strikes from Hyderabad pacer Hinge, including captain Gill (5) and Buttler (7).
Following his departure, fellow left-hander Sundar led the side to a difficult total with his 33-ball fifty, while Sudharsan counterattacked with five fours and two sixes in his 44-ball knock.
