A combative century by captain Imran Nazir helped Sialkot avoid the blushes and keep their hopes alive in the four-day match for Mohammed Nissar Trophy against Ranji champions Uttar Pradesh, at the HPCA stadium in Dharamshala on Thursday.
Tottering at 89 for 5 in reply to UP's first innings total of 316, Sialkot found its man Friday in injured captain Nazir, who cracked a 113-ball 123 and single-handedly helped the visitors avoid the follow-on.
The Qaid-e-Azam winners eventually ended up with 261 runs on the board, conceding a first innings lead of 65.
At stumps on the second day, Uttar Pradesh were 14 for no loss, with Rohit Prakash on six and Shiv Kant Shukla on seven at the crease.
Nazir's effort was all the more commendable since he sprained his right shoulder and received stitches for a cut in the wrist while fielding.
He retired hurt after facing the first delivery of the Sialkot innings, thus aggravating the injury while defending against Rudra Pratap Singh.
However, seeing his team in neck-deep water, Nazir returned to the crease after the fall of the sixth wicket and revived the team's hopes with a 122-run partnership with Tahir Mughal (29).
Nazir set the stadium ablaze by hitting 16 fours and five towering sixes, including two fours and a six off R P Singh in an over and three consecutive boundaries and two sixes off Piyush Chawla, that competed with the awesome heights of the Dhaula Dhar mountains.
Praising the knock, Sialkot coach Azmat Rana said, "This is the first I have seen Imran play so well. Unfortunately others did not do enough."
Before Nazir's blitzkreig, it was a forgettable performance by the Pakistani outfit as UP bowlers wreaked havoc with their combination of pace and spin.
After R P Singh provided the early breakthrough by removing Shahid Yousuf, who made 24 off 24 balls, the young tandem of pacer Pravin Kumar (3/69) and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (3/85) brought nightmares to the opposition batsmen.
Earlier, Rizwan Shamshad (84) added 24 runs to his overnight score and saw Uttar Pradesh get past the 300-run mark before being trapped by left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman.
Shamshad, who hit only four fours in his 193-ball innings, had a useful 37-run partnership with R P Singh (15) to strengthen their hold on the match.
UP got a huge gift from their rivals as they gave away as many as 51 runs as extras, which included 24 byes owing to the unavailability of their regular wicketkeeper Khalid Mahmood, who was not fully fit.
Scorecard
Uttar Pradesh (1st innings):
Rohit Prakash b Tahir Mughal 16
S K Shukla lbw b Mohammad Asif 1
S Raina c Shoaib Malik b Mohammad Asif 5
R Shukla c Shehzad Malik b Sarfraz Ahmed 54
P Kumar c and b Sarfraz Ahmed 2
Jyoti P Yadav c Nazir b Abdur Rehman 15
R Shamshad lbw b Abdur Rehman 84
P Chawla c Mughal b Shahid Yousuf 48
Amir Khan c K Mahmood b Sarfraz Ahmed 23
R P Singh b Tahir Mughal 15
S Srivastava not out 2
Extras: (b-19, lb-23, w-8, nb-1) 51
Total: (all out in 102.4 overs) 316
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-23, 3-50, 4-53, 5-109, 6-121, 7-200, 8-269, 9-306.
Bowling: Mohammad Asif 6.4-2-8-2, Sarfraz Ahmed 31-8-61-3, Tahir Mughal 27.2-2-97-3, Shahid Yousuf 2-0-8-0, Abdur Rehman 25.4-5-71-2, Shoaib Malik 9-1-19-0, Shehzad Malik 1-0-9-0.
Sialkot (1st innings):
Imran Nazir c Shukla b R P Singh 123
Majid Jahangir c Raina b Chawla 15
Shahid Yousuf c Amir Khan b R P Singh 24
Mansoor Amjad b Kumar 3
Shoaib Malik c Raina b Srivastava 24
Abdur Rehman c Amir Khan b Kumar 0
Shehzad Malik lbw b Srivastava 14
Tahir Mughal b Chawla 29
Mohammad Asif b Chawla 0
Sarfraz Ahmed b Kumar 4
Khalid Mahmood not out 4
Extras: (b-5, lb-3, w-1, nb-12) 21
Total: (all out in 60.1 overs) 261
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-36, 3-45, 4-55, 5-89, 6-96, 7-218, 8-218, 9-236.
Bowling: R P Singh 11.1-1-60-2, S Srivastava 11-4-24-2, P Kumar 17-0-69-3, Piyush Chawla 19-4-85-3, Jyoti P Yadav 2-0-16-0.
Uttar Pradesh (2nd innings):
R Prakash batting 6
S K Shukla batting 7
Extras: (nb-1) 1
Total: (for no loss in 8 overs) 14
Bowling: Mohammad Asif 4-1-6-0, Sarfraz Ahmed 4-2-8-0.
