Cape Town, April 19: Daniel Vettori at his canny best is a difficult customer to negotiate. The Kiwi left-armer gave further reason to believe that spinners will have a major role in IPL-2. Coming on to bowl after Kings XI Punjab had rattled up 67 off the first six overs, Vettori struck with his first ball and more importantly gave only one run in that over to pull things back for the Delhi Daredevils.

From a promising start Punjab stuttered to 104 in their allotted 12 overs. It was a target that looked small right from the moment Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag strode confidently to the middle.

Any shortened game suits the team chasing. If the match is truncated further and made into a 12-over-a-side contest, it can become a near hopeless situation for the team batting first. Mohali paid heavily for losing the toss. Running into a sledgehammer pair in Sehwag and Gambhir is no easy task either. Delhi originally chasing 105 in 12 overs, saw their target trimmed to 54 in six overs after rain interrupted their innings when they were 29/0. Sehwag, who hit the first ball he faced from Yusuf Abdulla for a six, did not let the interruption affect his concentration. Gambhir played his role to perfection and there was nothing much Yuvraj Singh could have done under the circumstances.

Earlier, Punjab’s forgotten opener Karan Goel gave the innings the much required thrust with a power packed 38. His pulled sixes off Yo Mahesh stood out for exemplary bat speed. The last six overs after the "strategy break" undid all the good work of Ravi Bopara and Karan. Only 37 came in that period and from there it was going to be an uphill task. Another rain interruption only made it impossible.

Scores: Kings XI Punjab 104/7 in 12 overs (K. Goel 38, R. Bopara 22, D. Vettori 3/15) lost to Delhi Daredevils (D/L target 54 in 6 overs) 58/0 in 4.5 overs (V. Sehwag 38 n.o.)