4 day match between UP and Sialkot begins today…Sialkot is visiting UP.
Suresh Raina won the toss and chose to bat first against Sialkot in their four-day match at Dharmashala. Raina was named captain instead of Mohammad Kaif who had led Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy when he was not on India duty.
This match was initially scheduled to be played between September 19 and 22 but was postponed owing to India’s commitments in Malasyia and Pakistan’s grueling tour of England. As a result, Shoaib Mailk, Mohammad Asif, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Imran Nazir lined up for Sialkot while Uttar Pradesh included Kaif, Rania and RP Singh, back after the tri-series in Kuala Lumpur.
This match between the Ranji Trophy champions and the Quad-e-Azam winners is being played for the Mohammad Nissar Trophy and marks the revival of cross-border matches between domestic teams from India and Pakistan. In 1989 United Bank Limited from Pakistan played Delhi, that year’s Ranji winners, for the Super Wills Cup and the next edition was contested between Wills XI from India and Habib Bank from Pakistan.
Sialkot Team: 1 Imran Nazir (capt), 2 Shoaib Malik, 3 Majid Jahangir, 4 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 5 Mohammad Asif, 6 Atiq-ur-Rehman, 7 Khalid Mahmood, 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Mansoor Amjad, 10 Shahid Yousuf, 11 Sarfraz Ahmed
UP Team: 1 Jyoti Prasad Yadav, 2 Shivakant Shukla, 3 Mohammad Kaif, 4 Gyanendra Pandey , 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Rizwan Shamshad , 7 Amir Khan (wk) , 8 Piyush Chawla, 9 RP Singh, 10 Praveen Kumar ,11 Avinash Yadav
UP: 53/4
Mohammad Asif 2 wickets, 1 each for Tahir Mughal, and Sarfaraz Ahmad.
