UP takes lead against Guj in Vijay Merchant trophy match

Kanpur: Uttar Pradesh took a significant first-innings lead against Gujarat after reaching 118 for 2 on the opening day of their Vijay Merchant Trophy (Under-16) match at JNN College of Engineering ground Shimoga here on Monday.Earlier, Gujarat, after being put in to bat, were bowled out for a modest 103 runs. UP thus ended the day with a 15-run lead and 8 first-innings wickets in hand.UP's reply got off to a shaky start as opener Hitesh Kumar was dismissed cheaply for 2. However, Kamran Ali and Aalok Kumar steadied the innings with a useful partnership before Kamran retired hurt due to injury after adding 42 runs to the total.Aalok Kumar then joined hands with Rudra Veer, and the duo added a valuable 65 runs off 142 balls to put UP in a strong position. Gujarat's Trinabh Shukla broke the partnership by dismissing Rudra Veer for 39 off 72 balls, an innings that included 6 boundaries. At stumps, Aalok Kumar was unbeaten on 43, with Arush Gupta batting alongside him on 4.Gujarat's batting collapse was triggered by medium pacer Prithviraj Singh, who returned impressive figures of 5 for 41. He, along with Kamran Ali, dismantled the top order before Prithviraj and Aryan Tyagi cleaned up the middle order and tail. Vansh Shah top-scored for Gujarat with 25 runs, while the opening pair of Jaiveer Singh and Dipanshu added the highest partnership of the innings with 28 runs. As many as 8 Gujarat batsmen failed to reach double figures.Brief score:Gujarat first innings: 103 (Jaiveer Kataria 16, Dipanshu Gupta 8, Aarav Kothari 0, Vansh Shah 25, Divya Desai 8, Jaivardhan Singh Chavda 4, Swapna Patel 5, Ridham Patel 13, Trinabh Shukla 18, Dhruv Patel 0, Het Chaudhary 0; Prithviraj Singh 5 for 41, Kamran Ali 2 for 15, Aryan Tyagi 3 for 15)Uttar Pradesh first innings: 118 for 2 (Hitesh Kumar 2, Kamran Ali retired hurt 28, Aalok Kumar 43 not out, Rudra Veer 39, Arush Gupta 4 not out; Trinabh Shukla 2 for 41)