Delhi earned a consolation win in their last match of the Champions League by defeating the Cape Cobras by 30 runs. On yet another ‘not so good for batting’ surface at the Kotla, it was Andrew Puttick who called right but surprisingly chose to chase.
The Delhi Daredevils rested Virender Sehwag and Glenn McGrath for this dead rubber as Gambhir’s men posted a modest 114 which given the nature of the wicket was always going to be competitive. And the Cobras found out that it was lot more competitive than they’d have imagined. The side capitulated to 84 all out in 18.3 overs thereby ensuring that they finish 2nd in the group and face the only unbeaten team in the tournament, Trinidad & Tobago, in their semi final clash. A duck again!>
Gambhir and Dilshan’s struggles at the top of the order continued as they both perished in the 2nd over with the score on just 4. Dinesh Karthik tried to up the tempo when he hit three boundaries of one Kleinveldt over, the bowler who had accounted for both the openers.
However, he was involved in a horrendous mix up with Owais Shah and got out just as he was looking good to bring some sanity in the Delhi innings. It was then left to the England player Shah to ensure that his team reaches triple figures atleast as he kept losing wickets at the other end. He remained unbeaten on 39 that came off 38 balls, an innings that contained two boundaries and a 6. For the Cobras, Rory Kleinveldt and Justin Ontong both claimed two wickets each; incidentally Ontong’s two wickets also came in one single over.
The Cobras’ woes at the top of the order continued with Gibbs struggling for runs yet again. He got out for a golden duck. There were some occasional boundaries hit by batsmen but in general the wicket was a very difficult one for batting as a result of which none of the batsmen could really get their eye in.
Henry Davis with a 29 ball 22 was the top scorer and not a single batsman could have a strike rate of even 90 per 100 balls! The bowlers led by Dirk Nannes kept tightening the screws to earn their team a win in front of their home supporters. He finished with 3 wickets while Dilshan, Amit Mishra and Yogesh Nagar picked up 2 wickets each. Owais Shah was declared the ‘Man of the Match’.
The 1st semi final would be played between NSW and Victoria at the Kotla on Wednesday while T&T will face the Cobras the following day at Hyderabad.