Navi Mumbai, May 12 (IANS): After winning the toss, Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant had reckoned that anything in the range of 140-160 would be a good target for them to chase down at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday.

His words turned out to be true as pace trio Mitchell Marsh, Chetan Sakariya and Anrich Nortje took two wickets each in restricting Rajasthan to 160/6.

In reply, Marsh came out to lead the chase with a 62-ball 89 while Warner hanged around to play the anchor, remaining unbeaten on 52 off 41 balls as Delhi chased down the total with 11 balls remaining to win a crucial match by eight wickets, keeping them alive in the race for playoffs.

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

Pant felt that if fielding had been better, it would have been the perfect match Delhi needed in an inconsistent campaign. "Destiny is always in your hands, you can look to give 100 percent. The fielding could be better, but this was close to a perfect game. We miss him (Prithvi Shaw) but we can't control that. He has typhoid or something like that is what the doctor told me."

For Sanju Samson, it was a night to forget as Rajasthan brought out their pinch-hitter Ravichandran Ashwin at three after the fall of Jos Buttler. The move succeeded as Ashwin reached his maiden IPL fifty but it also meant that Samson, Rassie van der Dussen and Riyan Parag didn't get to face a majority of deliveries.

Moreover, the missed catches of Warner and Marsh along with the former getting a huge slice of luck when a leg-break from Yuzvendra Chahal brushed past leg-stump with bails lighting up but they weren't separated.

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

Also, Rajasthan missed an lbw review when Trent Boult had trapped Marsh in the third over, only for replays to show later that it would have hit the stumps. "I thought it hit the bat and never made contact with the pad. Coming back stronger after losses is important, that'll be our focus in the next game. Hopefully, we'll get Hettie (Shimron Hetmyer) back soon."