Shamshad and Shukla lead UP fightback

Uttar Pradesh 268 for 7 (Ravikant 54, Rizwan 61*, Chawla 49) v Sialkot
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Uttar Pradesh's lower-order batsmen staged a doughty fightback after Sialkot's fast bowlers had knifed through the top order to leave the match evenly poised on the opening day at Dharamsala. Mohammad Asif and Sarfraz Ahmed bowled searing opening spells to reduce UP to 53 for 4 at one stage. Ravikant Shukla, who battled for 54, was the spine of an innings bereft of beef or bone until Rizwan Shamshad and Piyush Chawla's plucky rearguard propped UP to 268 for 7.

UP were jolted even before the start when Mohammad Kaif, their captain, was declared unfit to play due to exhaustion. Sialkot, too, received a crippling blow to their attack soon after the start when Asif, Pakistan's McGrath, was forced out of the attack with a back problem. "It is a minor injury. But I did not want to take a risk as the Champions Trophy is round the corner," he said later.

Sialkot's sessions became progressively worse just as UP's batsmen got better. The bowlers claimed four UP wickets in the first session, two in the second and just one in the third as the lower-order batsmen showed the specialists that the pitch was anything but full of demons.

Had Asif remained fit to bowl, Sialkot could well have skittled UP cheaply. For, during the 6.4 overs that he bowled Asif troubled the openers with pronounced lateral movement and swing. It didn't help UP at all that their batsmen were flailing their bats everywhere while their feet went nowhere. Asif trapped Shivakant Shukla with one that swung in sharply and soon induced Suresh Rania, the stand-in captain, to edge a flamboyant drive to first slip to begin the slide. Tahir Mughal came on after Asif's injury and there was no respite for the batsmen. He bowled Rohit Srivastava, Shukla's opening partner, with one that pitched short of a length and knifed between bat and body to hit the top of middle and leg.

Sarfraz, the left-arm seamer who shared the new ball with Asif, was miserly in his opening spell. Bowling off the wrong foot, with an action resembling a fast-bowler's version of Paul Adams, he offered nothing in terms of width or length and bowled six maidens in his first ten overs. He capped a superb spell with an outstanding return catch - plucked with his outstretched left hand on his follow through - to dismiss Praveen Kumar.

UP's fightback began here. As the new ball wore off, the bounce got lower and slower. The pressure eased up after the quick bowlers were taken off, and Shukla built the first stages of a recovery. He began edgily and mixed well-timed cover-drives and flicks with the occasional outside edge or play and miss. However, he grew in confidence and formed the mainstay of the 56-run stand for the fourth wicket. He fell shortly after lunch, trying to hook Sarfraz, and UP were 121 for 6 with all their specialist batsmen dismissed. If Sialkot thought they could slice through the lower order, they had overlooked Chawla, who came out full of aggressive intent.

Before Chawla came to the crease, Sarfraz had managed to upset all the batsmen with steep bounce on a pitch that was on the slower side. Chawla took him on - hooking and cutting with impunity off the back foot and driving through covers when it was pitched up. He lofted Rehman down the ground repeatedly and meted the same treatment to Shoaib Malik. Chawla raced to 49 off just 51 balls and, with Rizwan Shamshad, added 78 for the seventh wicket.

Chawla, like Shukla, also fell soon after the tea break but during the impish innings Shamshad had grown in confidence. He started his innings so nervously that his dismissal seemed imminent. However, he ground out his runs in ones and twos, and afforded himself the luxury of only three fours in his 153-ball vigil.

Piyush Chawla c Mahmood b Yousuf 49 (200 for 7)
Stood in his crease and drove away from the body, nicked to the wicketkeeper