Medium-pacers Nathan Coulter-Nile and Zaheer Khan are confident of Delhi Daredevils finishing in the top four and sealing a playoff place.
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Buoyed by their big victory against Kings XI Punjab on Friday, Delhi are keen to take it a step further with strong displays in their remaining six games.
“We now have to win four out of the remaining six games. That’s how we are looking at it,” Khan said ahead of today’s clash against Rajasthan Royals at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.
The 36-year-old, who played his first game for the Delhi franchise against Punjab, made a big impact claiming two early wickets and was also a guiding force for Coulter-Nile, adjudged man of the match for his career-best haul of 4-20.
“His understanding of the game and his experience is a lot more. Everything he said was gold and it was really special out there and it helped me a lot,” Coulter-Nile said of Khan.
The 27-year-old Aussie believes the team, with four wins in eight games, is settling in nicely for the bigger challenges ahead.
“We are not going to relax now; our next game is going to be as much pressure and we will try to win it as well,” he said. “We have played a few games together now so we know and understand each other and know our roles. So it’s starting to get a little bit easier.”
Delhi will be up against a determined Rajasthan, keen to end their winless streak stretching to five games.
Since winning their first five games, they have struggled. In the next five, they have lost three and had two games washed out.
Rajasthan also hold a 9-6 winning advantage over Delhi in their 15 meetings so far.