It146;s upto Delhi now to draw the positives

Shikhar Dhawan can say that he struck the mighty Shoaib Akhtar for a six towards mid-wicket 8212; he scored 52 runs as well 8212; Rajat Bhatia can brag about his daunting innings of 75 against an attack that would make even the best line-ups tremble and sweat.

And to top it all, they did all this in front a 15,000-strong crowd, something that most of them would have never ever seen before.

They, however, would also want to forget a couple of instances. For example, Mitthun Manhas getting bowled through his legs to Younis Khan the very first ball he faced, right after the former Pakistani skipper had gotten the wicket of Aakash Chopra. They also wouldn8217;t want to think about the pain that Imran Nazir and Salman Butt inflicted upon their two opening seamers.

Not that the bowlers did a very bad job, but they returned with little to rejoice over. Though they got that early break by removing Kamran Akmal8212;lbw by Kuunal Lall 8212; in the first over, the likes of Pradeep Sangwan and Lall could not really stop seasoned bats like Imran Nazir and Salman Butt from scoring.

However, the bowlers themselves were to blame for the destruction. They were often short of length and wide. The fielding, according to coach Vijay Dahiya, had today 8220;improved drastically from the last match against Railways practice match, but still needed a bit extra effort.8221;

However, there were a couple of over-throws in the beginning of the Pakistan innings topped up with some sloppy fielding, which was a bit disheartening at first, but were later overshadowed by a brilliant catch by Gautam Gambhir at short fine leg.

The Delhi team management wants to take the positives from the match, but they better not ignore the mistakes either. Apart from Amit Bandhari none of the pacers really impressed. Sangwan, though only in some occasions showed that he was capable of swinging the ball, accompanied by some pace, but you don8217;t really need a world-class batsmn to dispatch some of the deliveries he and Kuunal produced.

Leggie Chetanya Nanda, though economical, did not really trouble the batsmen. In fact, one could cite that for the laid-back approach with which the visitors slowly slipped into.

The Delhi openers, experienced as they are, could not really make a dent. While Gautam tried to assert a bit, Aakash Chopra never really came out of his shell. In fact, the way the he and some of the top order batsmen approached the Pakistani bowlers, it was no surprise that the opposition had the nerve to keep five slips, a gully, point all at one time.

The newer players like Virat Kohli and Mayank Tehlan showed spunk with some gutsy shots. They proved that sometimes taking the safer path isn8217;t really the answer. They may not have scored 8212; Virat made five and Tehlan seven 8212; but they earned some respect from the visiting outfit.

Bhatia, as always, was the saving grace for the home team. He began cautiously and then stepped on the accelerator once the Pakistani attack became a bit relaxed.

If the Delhi think-tank does want to take a positive from this match then it should be that they have a batsman like Rajat.

One waits to see if that is enough for the opener versus Rajasthan that starts a day from tomorrow.

SCOREBOARD

Delhi: A Chopra lbw b Younis 16, G Gambhir lbw b Gul 4, S Dhawan run out 52, M Manhas b Younis 0, V Kohli run out 5, R Bhatia run out 75,M Tehlan c and b Alam 7,P Bisht c Akhtar b Afridi 2, G Chabra c Tanvir b Akhtar 16, A Jain not out 14, P Sangwan not out 1

Extras lb5, w12, nb4: 21; Total for 9 wkts in 50 overs: 213

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-41, 3-41, 4-46, 5-137, 6-157, 7-173, 8-191, 9-200

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-46-1, Umar Gul 6-0-33-1, Sohail Tanvir 9-0-25-0, Younis Khan 6-0-24-2, Shoaib Malik 6-1-16-0, Fawad Alam 9-0-36-1, Shahid Afridi 4-0-29-1

Pakistan: I Nazir c Bhatia b Bhandari 34, K Akmal lbw b Kuunal Lall 5, S Butt retired out 83, Misbah-ul Haq c Gambhir b Sangwan 39, Y Hameed not out 34, Fawad Alam not out 9

Extras lb3, w7, nb1: 11; Total for 3 wkts in 42.4 overs: 215

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-66, 3- 152, 4-182

Bowling: Kuunal Lall 8-0-68-1, Pradeep Sangwan 9.4-0-61-1, Amit Bhandari 7-1-17-1, Chetanya Nanda 10-0-36-0, Mitthun Manhas 8-0-30-0