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Sorry Lions set unwanted record in IPL farewell

Suresh Raina of Gujarat Lions, pictured here playing for India

Gujarat Lions whimpered rather than roared in their final Indian Premier League match on Saturday, producing the worst collapse in the competition's history, before David Warner and Vijay Shankar clubbed Sunrisers Hyderabad into the play-offs.

The Lions will make way next season when Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals are readmitted to the tournament following two-year suspensions.

Gujarat will sadly be remembered for the wrong reasons, having crashed from 111 without loss to 154 all out at Green Park.

Sunrisers skipper Warner strolled through the subsequent run chase, such as it was, with 69 not out off 52 balls faced, as his team recorded an easy eight-wicket victory, secured with 11 balls remaining in Kanpur.

He had a willing ally in Shankar, who notched 63 from 44, both men finding the boundary nine times each, to make sure of a spot in the top four.

Having been put in to bat, Dwayne Smith (54) and Ishan Kishan (61) added rapid runs for Gujarat early on, before the former departed lbw attempting to pull Rashid Khan (3-34).

The loss of Ishan, who top-edged Mohammed Siraj (4-32) to wicket-keeper Naman Ojha, two overs later sparked a landmark calamity for the home team.

Big guns Suresh Raina (2), Dinesh Karthik (0) and Aaron Finch (2) all followed in quick succession, as Gujarat slumped from 111-1 to 123-5 in the space of just seven balls. 

Ravindra Jadeja (20 not out) provided some token resistance and remained unbeaten at the crease, but saw potential partners come and go with barely a pause.

Pradeep Sangwan, Ankit Soni and Munaf Patel all made ducks, with James Faulkner (8) and Praveen Kumar (1) faring only slightly better.

That underwhelming return left Sunrisers with a simple task, the loss of Shikhar Dhawan (18) and Moises Henriques (4) in one Kumar (2-22) over doing little to delay the inevitable. 

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