Two sides who made contrasting starts to the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) meet at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on Sunday, with the Delhi Daredevils hosting the Rajasthan Royals.
Neither team has set the IPL on fire in the first seven editions of the tournament, with just a single appearance in the final between them, when the Royals won the inaugural competition in 2008.
Delhi faced the IPL giants Chennai Super Kings in their opening fixture, and should have taken the points in a surprise away win. However, after keeping their hosts to what appeared to be a sun-par 150-7, they got their tactics completely wrong in the run chase, and ended up falling short by just a solitary run.
The Royals on the other hand, pulled off a fine victory over the Kings XI Punjab. With Australian James Faulkner to the fore with both bat and bowl, they made their opponents much vaunted batting lineup look very ordinary, as they restricted a batting order containing the likes of Sehwag, Maxwell, Miller and Bailey just 136-8, when chasing 163 to win.
The Royals have had slightly the better of previous meetings between themselves and Delhi over the years, having won eight times to six successes for the Daredevils.
If the Royals can continue such efficient all-round performances, the disappointments of the past six seasons may be forgotten come the business end of IPL8. The fielding was electrifying, and the bowling provided lines and length that were always challenging, even to some of the best T20 batsmen on the planet.
Delhi, and in particular their skipper JP Duminy, will need to show a less cautious approach when they face the Royals on Sunday. Quite frankly, it is no good the skipper hiding his talents down at No.7 in the order as he did against Chennai, when he should be high in the order and spending as long in the middle as possible.