Kolkata Knight Riders will not relive that unbelievable IPL win from last year.
The defending champions were dumped out of IPL 2013 by the Pune Warriors, of all sides, who put in a pretty good bating effort to pull off a seven-run win.
Gautam Gambhir and co. will be wondering what went wrong this season, as KKR now prepare themselves to watch the playoffs - the place where every IPL team wants to be - from the relative discomfort of their homes.
Pune Warriors put in a really good batting performance, posting 170 for four in their 20 overs, with Manish Pandey leading the way with 66.
In reply, KKR made a real fist of the chase, with Yusuf Pathan scoring a brilliant 44-ball 72, only to crumble in the final overs, courtesy the weirdest of dismissals of the KKR slugger in the business end of the innings, with the home side finishing seven runs short on 163 for seven.
With the defeat - their ninth in 15 matches -- KKR lost their chance of catching up with RCB and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have eight wins each, while Pune Warriors salvaged some pride with their third win in 15 games.
KKR, in a must-win situation, got off to a disastrous start as their top three batsmen fell early.
Manvinder Bisla was trapped in front by the excellent Wayne Parnell (two for 34) in the second over of the innings for just one, before Jacques Kallis (1) followed suit courtesy a brilliant yorker from the South African pacer.
KKR were 25 for two at that point, and it got worse when skipper Gautam Gambhir fell in the next over, top-edging one to Yuvraj Singh off Ishwar Pandey for just 12 (17b, 1x4).
At this point, all of KKR's hopes rested on Ryan Ten Doeschate - why on earth was he not played more often in IPL 2013 - and the unreliable yet potentially match-wining Yusuf Pathan.
Pathan and Ten Doeschate answered their team's call in brilliant fashion, combining for 98 runs in just 11.1 overs.
When the two came together KKR needed 142 from 15.2 overs, at nearly ten runs an over, and about ten overs later, that equation was brought down to 49 from the last five overs.
The duo played brilliantly picking up the boundaries whenever required, with Pathan reaching his 50 in just 32 deliveries.
Ten Doeschate (42, 30b, 4x4, 1x6) also seemed to be on his way to a half-century, but a slight misunderstanding resulted in his run out as the Warriors looked to pull things back following the break-up of the big partnership.
Manoj Tiwary lost his head in the next over, unnecessarily holing out to Manish Pandey at long-on off Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a two-ball duck, when all he needed to do was give the strike to the settled Pathan, leaving KKR needing 43 from 22 balls.
Pathan cranked three boundaries in the 18th over, including a massive pickup six off Wayne Parnell, before the slugger was dismissed in the most bizarre of circumstances.
Parnell bowled a good yorker, which Pathan dug out straight down the pitch; the KKR batsman went for a single, but Debabrata Das at the other end was not on the same page. It looked like Parnell would pick up the ball and run out Das at the striker's end - at the very least -- with Pathan continuing to run, only for the latter to kick the ball out of the Warriors bowler's path.
Umpire Nigel Long went upstairs for the decision and the replays showed Pathan seemingly kicking the ball away on purpose - a nice through pass it would have made in football - leaving the umpires to give the decision in the Warriors favour for obstruction, with an incensed Pathan having to trudge back to the pavilion for a well-made 72 (44, 8x4, 2x6).
KKR still in the game, though, needed 22 from the last couple of overs, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar (one for 18) bowled a little gem, conceding just four runs in the penultimate over.
The home side needed 18 off the last six deliveries and it was not to be as KKR's defence of their IPL title ended tamely.
Earlier, the Pune Warriors batting lineup finally clicked, like they really should have, and were expected to, on a consistent basis throughout the IPL.
All the batsmen that got an opportunity made runs, with Aaron Finch and Robin Uthappa starting things off with a 41-run partnership at the top.
After the decent start, KKR spinner Sachitra Senanayake dismissed Uthappa (25, 21b, 1x4, 2x6), who was the aggressor in the partnership, in the sixth over, with just two balls remaining in the powerplay.
Uthappa played on to his stumps while going for a pull shot, as KKR, desperate for a win, looked to capitalize.
Finch took the lead after Uthappa's wicket, going great guns by smashing quite a few maximums, as the Warriors skipper and youngster Manish Pandey built a 56-run partnership from 7.1 overs.
The duo took the score to 97 before Finch (48, 32b, 2x4, 3x6) had to make the walk back to the pavilion in the 13th over, with L Balaji castling the Australian, who could not utilize the pull shot as desired.
After solid partnerships of 41 and 56, the Pune Warriors needed another one to push to score to a formidable one, and they got just that with Pandey and Yuvraj Singh combining for 65 in a little over six overs.
Kallis had a forgettable day with the ball, with the South African all-rounder conceding a massive 48 runs from four overs, with Manish Pandey in particular carting the bowler for quite a few boundaries, which included three consecutive boundaries at one point.
The final four overs was taken for 54 runs by the Pune Warriors with Pandey leading the way with a 47-ball 66 (8x4, 1x6), while Yuvraj Singh also played his part, making 30 (20b, 3x6).
Pandey was run out in the final over, with Yuvraj Singh also falling to Kallis, but the away side still managed 16 runs in the 20th over to take the score to 170 for four.
