Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly, on Saturday. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi: It was a night of disappointment for the 40,000 strong crowd at Kotla, who filled the stands for the inconsequential IPL–IV tie between the Delhi DareDevils and the Pune Warriors on Saturday. Their hope of watching a good contest were dashed when the match had to be abandoned after 10.1 overs because of heavy downpour.

The Pune side should be feeling disheartened by the turn of events as they were definitely on top when rain stopped the match at 8.45 pm. The Delhi DareDevils, who opted to bat, were struggling at 56 for three. As it rained for almost two hours continuously, the umpires finally called off the tie around 10.30pm. While the teams split points for the tie, both the teams finished with nine points. The DareDevils, however, finished at the bottom of the table because of poorer net run rate.

The DareDevils’ batting had been their weakest link during the entire season. Of the four matches they won, three came because of individual brilliance of Virender Sehwag, who, on Saturday, could only watch the proceedings from the pavilion. The dashing opener returned from England on Friday after undergoing a surgery on his shoulder.

Without Sehwag, the DareDevils batting looked absolutely ordinary. What made their task even more difficult was some good bowling by the Pune side. Much was expected from David Warner (19), but the opener, too, disappointed with the bat.

The lefthander started with a bang but once he was consumed by left arm medium pacer James Faulkner in the fourth over, Pune Warriors had no problem getting a grip over the tie.

The delivery that got Warner out was a fine yorker for which the batsman had no answer. Sourav Ganguly, who received loud cheers from the spectators when he stepped on to the ground, was seen giving Faulkner a word of advice during this over.