Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad cruised into the Indian Premier League play-offs with an easy eight-wicket victory over Gujarat Lions riding on a throughly professional team performance, in Kanpur, on Saturday.
After pacer Mohammed Siraj and Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan played a key role in dismissing Lions for a paltry 154 in 19.2 overs despite a century opening stand, skipper David Warner (69) and Vijay Shankar (63) steered their team to an easy victory with 11 balls to spare.
Sunrisers finished their league campaign with 17 points from 14 games to become the second team after Mumbai Indians to qualify for the play-offs.
It was a forgettable season for Gujarat, who finished the tournament second from bottom, with eight points from 14 games.
It was a 133-run third wicket stand between Warner and Tamil Nadu one-day captain Shankar that sealed the issue after Shikhar Dhawan (18) and Moises Henriques (4) were dismissed cheaply.
They never showed any urgency yet managed to hit boundaries regularly to keep the asking rate in check at all times.
Warner hit nine boundaries while Shankar also smashed nine fours, matching his skipper stroke for stroke.
In fact, such was the ease that Sunrisers batsmen didn't hit a single six but the 23 boundaries were enough for their successful run chase.
Warner also went past the 600-run mark in IPL-10 during his unbeaten knock and fittingly hit the winning runs, smashing leg-spinner Ankit Soni for a boundary back over his head.
Earlier, rookie pacer Mohammed Siraj and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan effected a batting collapse to skittle out Gujarat Lions for 154 in 19.2 overs after a century plus opening stand.
Siraj claimed four for 32 and Rashid picked three for 34 to help Sunrisers make a sensational comeback after Gujarat had looked on course for a huge score following a 111-run opening stand between Ishan Kishan (61 off 40 balls) and Dwayne Smith (54 off 33 balls).
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/25) and Siddharth Kaul (1/30) polished off the tail with some good yorkers at the end.
In a baffling collapse, Lions lost all 10 wickets for an addition 49 runs in the last 10 overs after a whopping 105 in the front 10.
Initially, it was Kishan, who was carting the bowlers all over the park, hitting five fours and four sixes in all.
Anything short on his pads was pulled imperiously. Smith on his part also hit a couple of sixes off Mohammed Nabi and Rashid Khan.
The opening stand raised visions of a big total but a Rashid flipper saw Smith wrapped on the pads going for a pull-shot only to be adjudged leg-before.
Kishan top-edged an ambitious pull-shot off a Siraj delivery only to be pouched by Naman Ojha.
It was the start of a baffling collapse with some atrocious shot selection from the likes of Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik. From 120 for four, suddenly Lions slumped to 120 for four and Sunrisers took full use of the opportunity that they got.
The mini-slump turned out to be decisive as only Ravindra Jadeja (20 not out) was left stranded with wickets falling regularly from the other end.
Rashid accounted for Aaron Finch (2) while James Faulkner and Pradeep Sangwan were cleaned up by Siraj.
Bhuvneshwar ended the innings in style with two wickets from the last two balls as Gujarat folded for 154 in 19.2 overs.
