Rizwan helps UP extend lead to 416

Dharamsala, Sep 29 (UNI) In-form Rizwan Shamshad (88) scored his second half century of the match as Uttar Pradesh batting fired on a placid pitch to extend their lead to a whopping 416 runs on the penultimate day of the four-day Mohammad Nissar Trophy tie against Sialkot today.

UP tried to bat out the opponents and were 361 for seven at stumps in their second essay with skipper Suresh Raina and Ravikant Shukla also scoring half centuries.

Jyoti Yadav was occupying the crease at 47 with Amir Khan (0) yet to face a delivery.

Resuming from an overnight score of 14 without loss, UP began the day on a sedate note with caution being the word for both the openers.

Shiv Shukla (36) was first to go when he edged behind a Tahir Mughal delivery to Khalid Mahmood after adding 57 runs for the first wicket with Rohit Shrivastava.

Shrivastava (31) was next to go when he gloved a short-pitched ball from Sehzad Malika and Mahmood made no mistake. UP were 95 for two at the stage.

Captain Suresh Raina was in good nick and scored at brisk pace.

With Pakistan pace ace Mohd Asif nursing shoulder injury, Raina looked to cut loose and reached his 15th first-class half-century.

He was particularly severe on Abdur Rehman and hit him for consecutive fours before the left-arm spinner castled him for 55.

Raina added 70 runs for the third wicket with Ravikant Shukla.

Shukla batted in contrasting style without taking any chances.

Together with Rizwan Shamshad, he added 73 runs and took the total to 238 before edging a Tahir Mughal delivery to the slip. Shukla took 125 balls for his 64.

All this while a calm and composed Shamshad guarded against taking chances and it was only after Shulkla departed, Shamshad stepped on the gas and chanced his willow on one and all. Be that left-arm seamer Sarfaraz or Tahir Mughal, they were all cut, pulled and driven in same vain without discrimination.

Shamshad finally fell, again in 80s, when he top-edged a short-pitched ball from Manzoor Ahmed to be taken safely by Atiq-ur-Rehman.

Shamshad's 88 came in 131 balls and were studded with eight fours and one mighty hit over the ropes.

Shamshad and Jyoti together added 88 runs for the fifth wicket.

The next two wickets fell in quick successsion as P Kumar (1) and Piyush Chawla (8) were removed by Tahir and Majid Jahangir respectively.

Tahir was most most successful, if not economical, of the Sialkot bowlers and ended up with the figures of 96 for three in 22 overs.

Scorecard: UP (first innings) 316 Sialkot (first innings) 261 UP (second innings) Rohit Srivastava c Shahid Yousuf b Majid Jahangir 33 Shiv Shukla c Shahid Yousuf b Tahir Mughal 36 Suresh Raina b Abdur Rehman 55 Ravikant Shukla c Majid Jahangir b Tahir Mughal 64 Rizwan Shamshad c Atiq b Mansoor Amjad 88 Jyoti Yadav not out 47 P Kumar c Inam-ul-Haq b Tahir Mughal 1 Piyush Chawla c and b Majid Jahangir 8 Extras (B 9, LB 3, NB 17) 29 Total (for seven wickets in 97.4 overs) 361 FoW: 1/57 2/95, 3/165, 4/238, 5/326, 6/336, 7/361 Bowling Mohd Asif 4 1 7 0 Sarfraz Ahmed 22 4 68 0 Tahir Mughal 22 1 96 3 Majid Jahangir 8.4 0 28 2 Abdur Rehman 27 1 108 1 Shoaib Malik 7 1 23 0 Mansoor Amjad 5 1 16 1 Shehzad Malik 2 0 3 0 UNI XC DH PM KP1901