With the 57 run thrashing suffered at the hands of Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 fresh in memory, Delhi Capitals went in for different tactics this time around as they elected to bat first in the IPL final in Dubai on Tuesday.
But it was the same old story for Delhi's top order.
Marcus Stoinis continued as opener after having scored some quick runs in Qualifier 2 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, Mumbai Indians's pace attack proved to be a completely different challenge.
Stoinis fell off the very first delivery of the match as Trent Boult got him caught behind with a superb outswinger, which bounced sharply to take the edge.
Shikhar Dhawan attempted to rally Delhi after the early blow, but was struggling to get on top of Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, the latter getting the left-hander to edge one which flew over the wicket-keeper. Then Dhawan somehow kept out a deadly yorker.
Boult struck again in his second over as the experienced Ajinkya Rahane was caught down the leg side for 2, leaving Delhi reeling on 16-2 in the third over.
It might have got worse, but Shreyas Iyer was lucky that his edge off Boult carried over de Kock for a four.
More misery was in store for the first time IPL finalists. Dhawan looked to attack Off-spinner Jayant Yadav, but was beaten all ends up on his attempted slog-sweep and bowled for 15.
The three early wickets proved a big jolt for Delhi who struggled to get going after the horror start.
Shreyas Iyer (65) and Rishabh Pant (56) reignited their hopes as both batsmen stroked quick half-centuries, but were unable to provide the final flourish.
The flurry of wickets at the start meant that Delhi were in rebuilding mode for most of the middle overs and a few quick wickets at the end saw them finish on 156/7.
DC scored just 38 runs from the last five overs for the loss of three wickets.
The target proved an easy chase for Mumbai Indians once they got off to a quickfire start. Rohit Sharma hit a fluent 68 from 51 balls while Ishan Kishan slammed 33 not out from 19 balls as Mumbai cruised to a convincing five wicket win with eight balls to spare.
