The China Mail - Rhythm king Rabada skittles Hyderabad to blast Gujarat to top of IPL

Hosts Gujarat defended 168 in Ahmedabad as Rabada took 3-28 and, with his fellow quicks, bowled out Hyderabad for 86, their lowest ever score in the IPL.

Fellow quick Jason Holder cleaned up the Hyderabad middle and lower-order to claim 3-20 from his four overs.

"Worked out for us nicely," said Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill. "We bowled very well. We knew if we bowled well, we would always be in the game."

Former champions Gujarat leapfrogged Hyderabad and defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to top the 10-team table, moving closer to a playoff spot.

Gujarat have 16 points with eight wins from 12 matches and are favourites to finish in the top two after the league stage.

- 'Rhythm is everything' -

The top four will make the playoffs with the top two getting an extra chance to make the final in Ahmedabad on May 31.

Gujarat pace spearhead Mohammed Siraj struck in the first over of the Hyderabad chase as he dismissed Travis Head for a duck with the fourth ball of the innings.

In the next over, Rabada removed the dangerous Abhishek Sharma for six before striking twice in his next two overs, having skipper Ishan Kishan (11) caught behind by Jos Buttler followed by Ravichandran Smaranto (9) miscuing to Gill at mid-off.

"Season in, season out, all you try to do is do the best you can," said player of the match Rabada.

"I have been backed and it has been clear what my role has been: leave everything out for the team.

"Rhythm is everything. And for me, it's about bowling as much as I can, but also preserving myself to be match-ready."

On the bowling group, Rabada said, "We each have our own natural attributes that we bring as bowlers. And then it's about seeing how much you can extract off those attributes without looking too far ahead."

Wickets kept tumbling as Holder took two in one over including Heinrich Klaasen, who made 14 to regain top spot in this season's IPL batting chart with 508 runs.

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan trapped Praful Hinge lbw for the final wicket as Gujarat bowled out Hyderabad in 14.5 overs.

The batters set up victory after Sai Sudharsan, who made 61, and Washington Sundar put on 60 for the fourth wicket to lift Gujarat from early trouble to 168-5.

Hyderabad pace bowler Hinge struck two early blows including Gill (5) and Buttler (7) to put Gujarat on the backfoot.

Sudharsan counter-attacked as he struck five fours and two sixes in his 44-ball knock and after his departure fellow left-hander Sundar steered the team to a challenging total with his 33-ball 50.

B.Carter--ThChM