The crowd must have felt cheated by the pitch and the players at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Monday night as Delhi Daredevils and Cape Cobras produced a most forgettable match in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament.
Daredevils opted to rest Virender Sehwag, Glenn McGrath and Ashish Nehra. The fans turned up in a decent number for this inconsequential match but left disappointed even though the home team won the match by 30 runs.
There was nothing at stake for Daredevils, already knocked out of the competition. For Cobras, the result was to decide its opponent in the semifinal on Wednesday. The motivation was clearly missing in the ranks of both the teams.
Cobras meets Trinidad
Cobras travel to Hyderabad to meet Trinidad and Tobago on October 22, while Victoria Bushrangers takes on New South Wales Blues in the semi-final here on Wednesday.
Daredevils seemed to have run out of fireworks. Only six boundaries and a six adorned the Daredevils innings, the six coming from Owais Shah off a full toss. Cobras lacked the will to fight it out on a pitch where the ball spun and stayed low too.
Daredevils’ batting looked bare at the top. Gautam Gambhir and Tillakaratne Dilshan fell cheaply and there was hardly any effort from Manoj Tiwary to grab the opportunity and make a mark.
The first boundary of the Daredevils innings came in the fifth over by Tiwary off a misfield. But the batsman picked the wrong ball to try a heave and the Daredevils innings was in shambles. Dinesh Karthik entertained the crowd with three boundaries in an over off Rory Kleinveldt.
Cameo by Shah
A cameo by Man-of-the-Match Shah saved Daredevils bigger embarrassment. He saw Karthik depart after a run out. Shah’s 38-ball 39 was the best that Daredevils could offer. It also remained the top individual score of the match.
The scores:
Delhi Daredevils: T. Dilshan b Kleinveldt 1, G. Gambhir b Kleinveldt 0, M. Tiwary b Henderson 19, D. Karthik (run out) 23, O. Shah (not out) 39, Y. Nagar c Henderson b Ontong 10, R. Bhatia b Ontong 0, A. Mishra (not out) 8; Extras (b-1, lb-3, w-10) 14. Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 114.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-4, 3-44, 4-46, 5-80, 6-87.
Cape Cobras bowling: Zondeki 4-0-13-0, Kleinveldt 4-0-31-2, Plaatjies 4-0-13-0, Henderson 4-0-19-1, Duminy 1-0-9-0, Ontong 1-0-8-2, Philander 2-0-17-0.
Cape Cobras: A. Puttick b Nannes 6, H. Gibbs lbw b Dilshan 0, H. Davids (run out) 22, J.P. Duminy b Mishra 14, R. Kleinveldt c Shah b Mishra 8, J. Ontong b Dilshan 9, V. Philander c Dilshan b Nagar 12, R. Canning b Nannes 3, C. Henderson b Nannes 0, M. Zondeki c Dilshan b Nagar 0, F. Plaatjies (not out) 0; Extras (lb-6, w-4) 10. Total (in 18.3 overs): 84.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-17, 3-44, 4-57, 5-57, 6-72, 7-78, 8-78, 9-79.
Delhi Daredevils bowling: Dilshan 4-0-16-2, Nannes 4-0-19-3, Bhatia 2-0-11-0, Mishra 4-0-19-2, Sangwan 2-0-4-0, Nagar 2.3-0-9-2.
