It was largely a struggle for the Uttar Pradesh batsmen on the opening day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan at the KL Saini stadium in Jaipur on Monday. Winning the toss and electing to bat, UP took 94 overs to score 196 for six at stumps.

Medium pacer Shamsher Singh wrecked the top order by prising out Manoj Mudgal (6), Rohit Prakash (for a first ball duck) and Rizwan Shamshad (10) with only 25 runs on the board. A fourth wicket partnership of 61 runs off 31 overs between Jyoti Yadav (34) and skipper Gyanendra Pandey (40) helped UP to stage a recovery of sorts. Both batsmen however fell in quick succession but a sixth wicket stand of 68 runs off 26.4 overs between Mohd Saif (52 not out) and Parvinder Singh Singh (28) boosted the UP total somewhat. At close Saif and AW Zaidi (17) were at the crease. Saif has so far batted three hours, faced 162 balls and hit three fours. Shamsher Singh, who caused all the early damage, finished the day with the splendid figures of 12-9-9-3.

© CricInfo