It was close to a perfect game: Pant

Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant was pleased with his team's authoritative performance against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday as they bagged an eight-wicket win at the DY Patil Stadium.

After a collective bowling effort restricted RR to 160/6 in 20 overs, Mitchell Marsh (89 off 62 balls) and David Warner (52 not out off 41 balls) ensured DC got over the line with 11 balls to spare.

"It was close to a perfect game as I believe there is always space for improvement," Pant said at the post-match presentation.

On a tricky pitch, RR lost Jos Buttler and Yashaswi Jaiswal early on but Ravichandran Ashwin (50) and Devdutt Padikkal (48) added 53 for the third wicket. However, they lost a flurry of wickets in the death overs which saw them lose out on valuable runs.

"On these kind of wickets where there is little turn, you can go either way. I am happy we bowled first. I thought 140-160 was a good score and said so at the toss. And we got there," Pant said.

Shaw's return unknown

Pant also provided an update on opener Prithvi Shaw's health.

"We miss him but we can't control that. He has typhoid or something like that is what the doctor told me," he said.

With two more matches to go in the league stage, DC need to win their remaining matches in order to be in contention for a playoffs spot. Pant felt that the team can do what is in their control.

"Destiny is always on your hands, you can look to give 100 percent. The fielding could be better, but this was close to a perfect game," he said.

RR skipper Sanju Samson felt that his team fell short with the bat and the ball.

"Very disappointing night. We were few runs and a few wickets short. It was a two-paced wicket when we were batting, we thought we were 15 runs short," he said.

Samson felt that his team was unlucky with the dismissal of David Warner who survived after Yuzvendra Chahal's delivery in the 9th over grazed his legstump but the bail was not dislodged.

"We had some bad luck with a few catches falling in front and one hitting the stumps but the bail not coming off," he said.

Despite the loss, RR are still third in the table with 14 points from 12 games. Samson wished for the return of Shimron Hetmyer, who left the squad to attend the birth of his first child.

" Coming back stronger after losses is important, that'll be our focus in the next game. Hopefully, we'll get Hettie back soon," Samson said.