Madhya Pradesh took the upper hand early as they ended their first day at 121 for 3 after restricting Uttar Pradesh to just 143 in their Central Zone Ranji Trophy match at the Green Park in Kanpur on Thursday.

The day unfolded with Uttar Pradesh losing the toss and being asked to bat. They were pushed further on the backfoot as Jai P Yadav (4 for 41) and Devendra Bundela (6 for 37) combined to bundle out UP in just 41.4 overs. None of the UP batsmen had the tactics to counter the medium pace of both Yadav and Bundela. Only four them managed to reach the double figures with opener Jyoti P Yadav top scoring with 33 as wickets kept falling like nine pins.

Madhya Pradesh in response made a disasterous start losing Ankit Srivastava (0) in the third over of the innings. Ankit was caught by Manoj Mudgal off Shalab Srivastawa. Shalab struck again to remove the other opener Jai P Yadav in the fifth over. Pegged on the back foot, MP made ample recovery due to a 87 run third wicket stand between Amay Khurasiya (65) and Devendra Bundela (39 not out). Khurasiya was the next to be dismissed caught by Mritunjay Tripathi off Ashu Sharma. MP at close of play were placed comfortably with Bundela and Harvinder Singh Sodhi (4) manning the fort.

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