Jason Roy hit a breathtaking 63 from just 25 balls as Surrey galloped to an eight-wicket demolitionof Hampshire, achieved with six overs to spare, in the NatWest T20 Blast South Group clash at the Kia Oval.
Kevin Pietersen, with 24 not out, and Gary Wilson, who struck an unbeaten 31, then provided the finishing touches to a great evening for Surrey against the group leaders, who lost their place at the summit to Essex Eagles while the hosts stayed third.
Hampshire slumped to 57 for six before handy contributions down the order from Chris Wood and Will Smith, with 27 and 25 respectively, saw them post 131 for nine.
But it was clearly not enough, and Roy wasted no time tucking into the Hampshire bowling, sharing an opening stand of 78 in only 6.1 overs with Surrey's new overseas signing Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was forced to play second fiddle to his partner's pyrotechnics.
Surrey won the toss and elected to open the bowling with Dilshan, whose off-spin proved so frugal he delivered his four overs from the Pavilion End unchanged.
James Vince cut Azhar Mahmood for four in the second over but then handed Wilson, Surrey's wicketkeeper, the first of his four catches two balls later.
Jimmy Adams opened his account with a straight driven boundary off Azhar, who he also slog-swept for four. But in the fifth over Dilshan had Adams caught by Pietersen at backward square-leg for 10.
Michael Carberry cut Azhar for four in the fourth over and pulled Chris Tremlett to the boundary in the sixth before opening the face to the England seamer to go caught behind for 16.
Gareth Batty had Glenn Maxwell holing out to long-on, and when Sean Ervine was caught at deep midwicket off Robin Peterson for 10 the visitors were reeling on 49 for five approaching the halfway point in their innings.
Matt Coles was run out attempting to turn a reverse-sweep into an ambitious single, whereupon Smith and Wood arrested the slide by adding 33 in less than five overs.
Wood launched Batty over wide long-on for a maximum, while Smith pulled and swept forcibly. But in the 16th over Zafar Ansari had Smith stumped off a wide. Wood responded by lifting Ansari straight back over his head for six.
Michael Bates was caught behind off Azhar, attempting an audacious scoop to fine-leg, as was Wood, though not before Kyle Abbott pulled the 39-year-old all-rounder for a maximum.
Hampshire never looked like restricting Surrey to 130 or less as Roy raced to a scintillating 19-ball half-century.
In the fourth over, the 23-year-old hit Coles for four successive boundaries - starting with a maximum over long-on, which was followed by dabs and drives backward of square on the off side and a four over mid-off to make it 49 without loss.
Two overs later, Roy turned his attention to Smith, cover-driving him for four before bringing up his fifty with the second of two sixes in three balls - the first slog-swept and the second disappearing over long-off - and then cutting and extra-cover-driving fours just for good measure.
Dilshan was bowled by Danny Briggs for 15 and Roy was eventually held at extra-cover, where Vince took a stinging catch off Coles, before Pietersen and Wilson saw the hosts home with an unbroken third-wicket stand of 53 in six overs.
Pietersen applied the icing to Surrey's cake by lifting Maxwell for two successive sixes in the 10th over, the first over long-on and the second into the members' pavilion.
Not to be outdone, Wilson completed Hampshire's mauling with a six straight down the ground off Coles.
Roy said: "It was a great performance from all the boys against the league leaders. It was just one of those nights. It was a very good wicket. You could play your shots and I just went out there and enjoyed myself. Our spinners played a huge part, on what was a very good pitch, to keep them down to 131."
Giles White, Hampshire's director of cricket, said: "We didn't get out of the blocks. We lost wickets consistently. Surrey are a very good side, but we just have to dust ourselves down and move on from this."