Uttar Pradesh coasted to a position from where it can guide proceedings in the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' league match against Hyderabad at the K D Singh Babu stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday.
The hosts were 101 for the loss of one wicket after bundling out Hyderabad for a paltry 142.
Led by Team India star Mohd. Kaif, UP were firing on all cylinders by the end of day one.
Kaif along with opener Shivakant Shukla entertained spectators with their batting prowess. Shukla was the more aggressive of the duo, hitting up a well-compiled 58 runs, inclusive of nine boundaries and a straight six. Kaif was on 31.
They added an undefeated 67 runs for the second wicket at the draw of stumps.
It was hard luck for the guest team when a chance came their way in the form of Shivakant's catch off the bowling of Inder Shekar Reddy, but it was dropped by Daniel Manohar at slips.
Earlier, opting to bat first, the Hyderabad batsmen were frustrated by fine bowling performances by the UP medium pacers and lone leg spinner Piyush Chawla.
Barring Shashank Nag (42), who top-scored, Vinay Kumar (29) and P S Niranajan (24), none could muster the courage of tackling the UP bowlers.
Scorecard
Hyderabad (1st innings):
D Manohar b Srivastava 12
P Shashank Nag c Shukla b Zaidi 42
Anirudh Singh b Srivastava 0
A Yadav c Ravikant Shukla b Srivastava 11
D Vinay Kumar b Zaidi 29
I Khaleel lbw Zaidi 0
P Niranjan b Kumar 24
Kaushik Reddy b Piyush Chawla 13
N Singh c Amir Khan b Piyush Chawla 0
P S Reddy not out 4
P Ojha c Amir Khan b Piyush Chawla 0
Extras: (b 1, lb 1, nb 5) 7
Total: (all out, 55.4 overs, 247 mins) 142
Fall of wickets: 1-44, 2-44, 3-60, 4-70, 5-71, 6-118, 7-138, 8-138, 9-142, 10-142.
Bowling: Zaidi 17-6-40-3 (2nb), Srivastava 15-3-30-3, Kumar 15-0-50-1 (3nb), Piyush Chawla 8.4-2-20-3.
Uttar Pradesh (1st innings):
J P Yadav c Khaleel b Singh 7
S Shukla not out 58
M Kaif not out 31.
Extras: (b 1, lb 4) 5
Total: (1 wicket, 34 overs) 101
To bat: G Pandey, R Shamshad, P Chawla, Ravikant Shukla, Amir Khan, P Kumar, A Zaidi, S Srivastava.
Fall of wickets: 1-32
Bowling: Singh 9-4-11-1, Kaushik Reddy 5-0-25-0, Reddy 11-0-31-0, Ojha 9-0-29-0.