Kaif rescues UP, Tamil Nadu score 325

Chennai, Dec 26 (UNI) Mohammed Kaif struck a strokeful half century to help defending champions Uttar Pradesh reach 204 for four at stumps on the opening day of the Elite Group A Ranji trophy cricket championship match against Tamil Nadu here today.

Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 267 for eight, the home team managed to swell their score to 325 in 106.4 overs.

Uttar Pradesh began their reply on a bad note losing opener R Srivastava (four) in the fifth over.

However, S S Shukla (32, 140 balls, 5x4) and Md Kaif (88, 161 balls, 12x4, 2x6) steadied the innings with a 127-run stand for the second wicket in 44.1 overs, After the exit of Kaif and Shukla in quick succession, Suresh Raina compounded the woes of the Tamil Nadu bowlers with a 38 run stand for the fourth wicket with Piyush Chawla (15, 33 balls 2x4) before the latter fell towards the fag end of the day.

Following is the Score Board: Tamil Nadu (First innings): S Anirudha c Shukla b Singh 4 M Vijay c RP Srivastava b S J Srivastava 7 R Prasanna lbw b Kumar 134 S Badrinath b Singh 22 S Sharath lbw b Kumar 25 R Sathish c Raina b Kumar 32 R Naresh b Murtaza 7 V Yo Mahesh lbw b Singh 26 K Varun Kumar c Amir Khan b Singh 2 R Ashwin (not out) 42 R Jesuraj lbw b Kumar 0 Extras (B-5, LB-4, W-1, NB-14) 24 Total (in 106.4 overs) 325 Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-16 , 3-49, 4-87, 5-140, 6-167, 7-257, 8-264, 9-325, 10-325.

Bowling: R P Singh 26-2-91-4, S J Srivastava 23-5-72-1, P Kumar 23.4-4-58-4, R P Srivastava 3-1-10-0, Piyush Chawla 11-5-31-0 A Murtaza 17-2-44-1, S K Raina 2-0-5-0, Md Kaif 1-0-5-0.

Uttar Pradesh (first innings): R P Srivastava c Varun Kumar b Mahesh 4 S S Shukla lbw b Naresh 32 M Kaif lbw b Naresh 88 S K Raina (batting) 33 Piyush Chawla c Sathish b Ashwin 15 A Murtaza (batting) 4 Extras (LB-3, W-6, NB-19) 28 Total (for four wkts in 71 overs) 204 Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-133, 3-153, 4-191.

Bowling: V Yo Mahesh 16-5-47-1, R Jesuraj 13-6-32-0, R Naresh 14-3-40-2, R Sathish 2-0-9-0, R Ashwin 21-5-61-1, S Badrinath 5-1-12-0.

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