Delhi bowlers set up consolation victory over Cobras

Delhi Daredevils gave their fans something to cheer about as the hosts signed off their Champions League Twenty20 campaign beating Cape Cobras by 30 runs in a low-scoring, inconsequential League B encounter at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Monday.

The match was purely of academic interest as the hosts are already out of contention for a semi-final berth after going down to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last outing.

On the other hand, Monday's defeat saw Cobras finish their league campaign on second spot and they would now take on a high-flying Trinidad and Tobago in second semi-final of the $six million tournament in Hyderabad on Friday.

The first semi-final is on Wednesday, where two Australian powerhouses, New South Wales and Victoria Bushrangers will battle it out for a place in the final.

Paceman Dirk Nannes was the pick of the bowler of the match, picking three wickets for just 19 runs.

Henry Davids and JP Duminy were the notable run-getters in the South African side's run chase, which never got momentum after the early blows.

Defending the modest total, Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir sprang a surprise when he gave the new ball to off-spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan and the Sri Lankan lived up to captain's faith by picking the vital wicket of Herschelle Gibbs.

Nannes, then cleaned up Cobras skipper Andrew Puttick couple of overs later.

After losing two early wickets, Davids and JP Duminy played sensibly adding 27, before Pradeep Sangwan's throw from backward point caught Davids inches short of the crease, leaving the South Africans at 49 for three after 10 overs.

Amit Mishra's twin strike in the 11th over further changed the complexion of the match in Daredevils' favour as Cobras lost half of their side with just 57 on the board.

Mishra first picked up Kleinveldt, caught by Shah at sweeper-cover region and then followed it up with the crucial wicket of Duminy, who completely missed a turning delivery.

Earlier, Rory Kleinveldt and Justin Ontong scalped two wickets each as Cape Cobras restricted a hapless Delhi Daredevils to a paltry 114 for six.

Owais Shah was the top scorer for Daredevils with an unbeaten 39 off 38 deliveries. Dinesh Karthik too chipped in with vital runs to help Daredevils reach the three-digit figure.

Put into bat, without Virender Sehwag, Daredevils were off to a disastrous start losing both their openers Gautam Gambhir and Tillakaratne Dilshan with the four runs on the board after two overs.

Dinesh Karthik, however, seemed in great touch as the right-hander clobbered Kleinveldt for three consecutive fours to give some momentum to the hosts' innings.

He shared 40 runs for the third wicket with Manoj Tiwary (19) before Claude Henderson went through the defence of Tiwary.

The Daredevils' problems were further compounded when Karthik fell to a mix-up, leaving the hosts' tottering at 46 for four wickets at the halfway mark.

Shah and Yogesh Nagar, who replaced Sehwag, then added 36 runs for the fifth wicket but just when it was time to accelerate after laying the foundation, Nagar departed after being caught at short-fine leg by Henderson off Ontong.

The Daredevils struggle can be ascertained from the fact that it took their batsmen 17 overs to find the first six of the innings, courtesy Shah's huge hit over the long-on region off Ontong.