Just four years back, Delhi boasted of having almost half of Indian team with Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ishant Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ashish Nehra donning the Indian colours.

Ironically, not even once Delhi qualified for the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy in the past four years; each of the four consecutive years failing in the group stages losing to lesser teams miserably.

That brings us to the question; why do the star-studded Delhi team fails to deliver at the Ranji level even as DDCA happens to be the second richest cricket association in domestic cricket after Mumbai.

Delhi lost to Karnataka by 8 wickets in their final tie and finished fifth in the Group A standing this season. Only the top three go to the quarter final round and this was the fourth straight year that he failed to reach the quarters.

Delhi's coach Sanjay Sharma admitted that Delhi team played badly this season, but refused to explain why did this happen despite a star-studded batting line-up which included the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Dev on the other hand went on the aggressive while defending the hosts.

"Yes, the presence of senior pros did not help the team but it happens in cricket. So what if Delhi has failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. Is Delhi not a good team? What can we do if all Delhi players suddenly loss form. If my best players do not perform then how can we win, but this can happen to any team," DDCA sports secretary Sunil Dev told Headlines Today in an exclusive interview in New Delhi Thursday.

Earlier, Karnataka team captain Vinay Kumar said in an exclusive interview: "Karnataka simply outplayed Delhi at their backyard. Wicket was not very easy to play nor it was an under-prepared one. Our batters in particular showed patience and ability to play in such wicket."