Skipper Jaydev Shah (57) struck a defiant half century as Saurashtra were struggling at 116 for 8 in reply to Uttar Pradesh's 188 all out on the opening day of the Ranji Elite Group semi-final in Vadodara on Saturday.
R Dhruv (21) and S Jobanputra (15) were at the crease when stumps were drawn for the day, on which 18 wickets fell and 304 runs scored at the Motibagh Ground.
Shah's decision to put the opponents in proved very fruitful as Sandeep Maniar (6-88) wreaked havoc, ripping through the UP top order.
UP were reeling at 15 for three within first 10 overs as Maniar dismissed R Srivastava (3), Amir Khan (4) and Suresh Raina (2) before a 54-run stand between skipper Mohammed Kaif and Ravikant Shukla steadied the innings.
Kaif (80) struck a patient half century as other batsmen struggled to negate the pace bowling. UP could have been in more difficulty, if Kaif had not been dropped at 20.
Jobanputra (3-60) broke the fourth-wicket partnership when he castled Shukla (29) and then trapped Piyush Chawla next ball to break the spine of UP batting.
B Kumar (33 not out) resisted down the order to help his team reach 188.
After bowlers did a wonderful job, the responsibility to take control of the match fell on Suarashtra batsmen.
However they had a disastrous start courtesy UP pacers Pravin Kumar(3/35) and S Tyagi (3-43), who teared apart Saurashtra batting line up.
Scorecard:
Uttar Pradesh (1st innings):
R Srivastava c Jogiyani b Maniar 3
A Khan c Jogiyani b Maniar 4
S Raina c Jogiyani b Maniar 2
M Kaif c Shah b Maniar 80
R Shukla b Jobanputra 29
P Chawla lbw b Jobanputra 0
R Elahi c Jogiyani b Maniar 0
P Kumar b Vaghela 11
B Kumar not out 33
P Gupta c Pujara b Maniar 6
S Tyagi lbw b Jobanputra 0
Extras: (b 4, lb 9, w 1, nb 6) 20
Total: (all out in 51.5 overs) 188
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-5, 3-15, 4-69, 5-69, 6-79, 7-110, 8-159, 9-173, 10-188
Bowling: S Jobanputra 18.5-1-60-3, S Maniar 23-2-88-6, K Vaghela 6-2-17-1, R Dhurv 4-0-10-0
Saurashtra (1st innings):
K Vaghela c Kaif b P Kumar 0
J Shah lbw b Tyagi 57
S Kotak lbw b P Kumar 0
C Pujara b Tyagi 2
S Jogiyani b P Kumar 14
N Rathod c R Shukla b B Kumar 4
F Bambhaniya lbw b B Kumar 0
R Dhurv not out 21
K Makvana b Tyagi 0
S Jobanputra not out 15
Extras: (b 1, lb 2) 3
Total: (8 wickets in 34 overs) 116
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-7, 4-38, 5-61, 6-61, 7-87, 8-87
Bowling: P Kumar 11-4-35-3, S Tyagi 11-2-43-3, B Kumar 6-0-23-2, P Chawla 6-2-12-0