Days of thunder: Delhi Daredevils lose by 38 runs to finish at bottom of the league

By Mail Today Reporter

Published: 22:37 BST, 19 May 2013 | Updated: 00:22 BST, 20 May 2013

Delhi Daredevils' woeful season ended with yet another disappointing loss, this time by 38 runs to Pune Warriors, to finish at the bottom of the nine-team table in the Pepsi Indian Premier League on Sunday.

The penultimate league match of the competition in Pune had only academic interest and that was which among Delhi and Pune would be able to avoid the proverbial wooden spoon.

In the end, Warriors, backed by their skipper Aaron Finch's 52, posted a challenging target of 173, and successfully defended it by restricting the lacklustre opposition for a meagre 134 for nine.

Pune, by virtue of winning the last two matches, finished eighth with as many points while the Daredevils had the ignominy of finishing last with six from 16 games.

It was the 13th loss out of 16 for Mahela Jayawardene and Co, http://soulofcricketer.mystrikingly.com/blog/safa-irfan-wife which is testimony to the harrowing time they had during the sixth edition of the cash-rich league.

The batting failed yet again as the likes of Jayawardene, Sehwag fell cheaply.

The performance they dished out definitely showed signs that the careers of both these stalwarts are only going southwards.

While Jayawardene (14) chased a wide delivery off leftarm spinner Ali Murtaza to be caught at point, Sehwag (11) tried to play the inside out shot only to be caught at deep point by Raiphi Gomez.

Within the first 10 overs, the top five were back in the hut. Such has been the plight of the Delhi batsmen that Murtaza (3/15), who was plundered for 45 runs in two overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore, returned with match-winning figures.

Wicketkeeper CM Gautham (30) and Irfan Pathan (24) did try with a 54-run stand but that was never going to be enough.

Daredevils skipper Mahela Jayawardene said they will have to move on after enduring a tough season this year.

'Tough day at the office for us, sums up the season. They played better cricket on this wicket.
Rough season for us but we need to move on,' said Jayawardene.

Pune captain Finch was happy to have ended the tournament on a winning note. 'We are very happy with the way it ended. Disappointed we haven't been able to do it more often. Crowd has been good throughout the season,' Finch said.

Luke Wright, who smashed a quick-fire 44 of just 23 balls to prop up Pune's innings, said 'It's very nice to finish on a high. Different track from what I am used to at home but this one was a better.'