Already out of contention for a semifinal berth, Delhi Daredevils would look to salvage some pride with a consolation win against Cape Cobras in an inconsequential Champions League Twenty20 match at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
Delhi's hope of making it to the final-four crashed on Saturday after Gautam Gambhir's men suffered an eight wicket loss to Bangalore Royal Challengers in a League B Super Eight encounter.
The home team though will have to come up with a vastly improved performance against a confident Cobras who have already qualified for the semifinals of the $6 million event having already collected four points after registering a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Victorian Bushrangers.
Gambhir said after his side's eight-wicket loss to Bangalore that they would look to give the Delhi fans something to cheer about but he himself has been woefully out of form having scored just 18 runs from the three outings in the tournament.
Except for Virender Sehwag, none of the batting stars in the Delhi line-up have done anything worthwhile. Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan and Englishman Owais Shah have failed to live up to expectations.
But more than batting, Delhi have been hit hard in the bowling department and sorely felt the absence of New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori.
Leg-spinner Amit Mishra was belted for 59 runs in his four overs by the Royal Challengers on Saturday. He is likely to be persisted with on Monday as there are few slow bowling options for Delhi.
Except for Dirk Nannes, who on Saturday bowled at 150 km per hour, none of the pacers has been consistent. Ashish Nehra has failed to carry on his fine form in the international circuit into the cash-rich event while retired Australian great Glenn McGrath flopped on Saturday after being among wickets against Sri Lanak's Wayamba.
For Cape Cobras, on the other hand, everything is falling in place as the South African side have been able to come up with all-round performance consistently in the 12-team event.
The pace duo of Monde Zondeki and Rory Kleinveldt have forged an ominous new-ball bowling partnership to make batsmen's' lives miserable, while young Jean-Paul Duminy and Vernon Philander backed the bowlers brilliantly with their bat.
Zondeki on Saturday scalped both the Victoria openers Brad Hodge and Rob Quiney in the very first over and the Australian side could never really recover.
Cobras batting boasts of a strong middle order with Puttick and Derek Brand opening the innings. They are followed by an impressive Henry Davids, who produced an unbeaten 45-ball 69, and in-form Jean Paul Duminy down the order, all who could make life difficult for the Daredevils bowlers.
Teams (from)
Cape Cobras: Andrew Puttick (C), Derek Brand, Ryan Canning, Henry Davids, Jean-Paul Duminy, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Herschelle Gibbs, Claude Henderson, Rory Kleinveldt, Richard Levi, Justin Ontong, Vernon Philander, Francois Plaatjies, Stiaan van Zyl, Monde Zondeki, Charl Langeveldt.
Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (C), Virender Sehwag, Rajat Bhatia, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Karthik, Mithun Manhas, Amit Mishra, Yogesh Nagar, Dirk Nannes, Ashish Nehra, Aavishkar Salvi, Pradeep Sangwan, Owais Shah, Manoj Tiwary.
