The battle to avoid the wooden spoon in IPL 2013 was emphatically won by the Pune Warriors, with the Delhi Daredevils, only a year after finishing as top dogs, ending their miserable season at the bottom of the table.
Batting first, Pune Warriors made an impressive 172 for five in their 20 overs, thanks to good knocks from Aaron Finch (52), Luke Wright (44) and Angelo Mathews (30).
The Daredevils were never really in the game, with Ali Murtaza picking up with three wickets to help his side restrict the away side to just 134 for nine for a 38-run win at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium.
Pune Warriors avoided finishing last for the second straight season, thanks to their fourth win in 16 matches - although it must be said it is the same record as last year -- while the Daredevils will be left wondering what went wrong after managing just three wins in 16, just 12 months after posting 11 wins in IPL 2012.
David Warner, back opening the innings, did not last too long for the Daredevils, managing just two runs before catching a bottom edge off Wayne Parnell to wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa.
Bharat Chipli was sent in at No.3 and along with Mahela Jayawardene looked to take their side to a decent position, but the Daredevils batsman just kept throwing away their wickets and putting their side in unnecessary trouble.
A ball after Uthappa missed a stumping chance, Ali Murtaza induced a poor shot from Jayawardene (14 in 13) with the batsman finding Luke Wright at point.
Sehwag and Chipli then fell in the same over - the eighth - off consecutive deliveries. Sehwag first hit a lofted drive straight down the throat of Raifi Vincent Gomez at deep cover, before Murtaza (three for 15) trapped Chipli plumb in front of the wicket in the next delivery to leave the Daredevils reeling on 55 for four.
The Daredevils' last real hope - Ben Rohrer - also did not last too long in the middle, castled by Ashok Dinda for just seven, leaving the away side needing 109 runs from 62 deliveries with their five top batsmen back in the hut.
Irfan Pathan and CM Gautam (30, 23b, 2x4, 1x6) combined for 54 runs to raise some hopes over an improbable victory, but the target was always going to be well beyond them as a couple of wickets from Angelo Mathews - of Gautam and Morne Morkel - in the 17th over as good as ended the Daredevils' resistance.
The most interesting part of the innings was when Umesh Yadav smashed a shot straight back past Dinda in the final over, with the ball striking umpire Simon Taufel, who thankfully was not hurt with the ball hitting him flush on the body.
Earlier, it was another solid performance with the bat from the Pune Warriors, who clearly seem to be a different team with the pressure completely off their shoulders.
Finch and Uthappa got off to a decent start, allying for 38 runs in five overs to set the tone for the rest of the innings.
Uthappa was the first to go for a 20-ball 24 (3x4) in the first ball of the sixth over, catching a thick outside edge to David Warner at point while going for a drive off Umesh Yadav.
Manish Pandey, who played a brilliant little innings in the previous game, could not continue his form, managing just 10 runs from 14 balls, before being bowled by Shahbaz Nadeem.
In the meanwhile, Finch was going great guns at the other end, having already taken Yadav for two sixes and a four earlier before continuing the assault to race to his 50 in the 12th over, from just 31 balls.
However, he was also dismissed in the same over from Siddarth Kaul, with Finch (52, 34b, 3x4, 4x6) holing out to Sehwag.
Yuvraj Singh (3) followed soon after, lobbing a simple catch to Sehwag off Irfan Pathan, to leave the Warriors at 96 for four from 13.3 overs.
From there, Angelo Mathews and Luke Wright put on a brilliant partnership of 71 from just 6.1 overs to propel their side to beyond 170.
Yadav, who finished with figures of 4-0-52-1, was the one to bear most of the brunt, giving away 24 runs in penultimate over of the innings, with Mathews making an unbeaten 22-ball 30 (2x6), while Wright, who fell in the last over to Kaul, scored a blazing 44 from 23 balls (7x4, 1x6) as the Warriors stormed to 172 for five in their 20 overs.
