Disciplined Cobras restrict Daredevils

-scoreboard

Rory Kleinveldt and Justin Ontong scalped two wickets each as Cape Cobras restricted a hapless Delhi Daredevils to a paltry 114 for six in an inconsequential League B match of the inaugural Champions League at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground on Monday.

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.

The match between the Delhi team and the South African side is only 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 match.

However, for Cobras the encounter has some significance as if they win today, they will top the League B and play New South Wales in the final-four at the same ground on Wednesday.

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.

Sehwag, who was the only Daredevils batsmen to have shown promise, opted out of the encounter to make way for young Yogesh Nagar.

Captain Gambhir and Dilshan woeful run in the tournament continued as the duo once again failed to make any significant impact with bat and Rory Kleinveldt cleaned both the openers in the second over of the innings.

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 Nagar 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.