Mohammad Kaif shrugged off his omission from the India squad to hit a valuable 91 and help defending champions Uttar Pradesh reach a respectable 249 for eight on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match against Karnataka in Kanpur on Saturday.

Kaif, who had special security arrangements for him in view of threat from fans who were unhappy with the Indian team's showing in the one-dayers in South Africa, rescued the hosts from a precarious 17 for three in 12 overs after electing to bat.

The skipper put on a crucial 80-run partnership with Ravikant Shukla and then added another 66 runs with Jyoti Yadav as he shored the home team to safety.

Kaif benefited from a reprieve on nought by C Raghu who put him down again on 70.

Raghu, however, had the satisfaction of breaking the association between the Kaif and Ravikant (35) by having the latter caught at second slip.

Kaif struck 13 boundaries and a six during his 307-minute stay at the crease before falling to former Test spinner Sunil Joshi (3-51). Yadav played a vital knock of 40.

Piyush Chawla on 31 and Rudra Pratap Singh on one were at the crease at close on the opening day.

Right-arm medium pacer Vinay Kumar was the pick of the Karnataka bowlers with three for 34.

His victims included Shivakant Shukla, the young Tanmay Srivastava and Suresh Raina (0).

Scoreboard:

Uttar Pradesh first innings:
Shivakant Shukla lbw b Vinay Kumar 0
Tanmay Srivastava lbw b Vinay Kumar 16
Mohammad Kaif b Sunil Joshi 91
Suresh Raina lbw b Vinay Kumar 0
Praveen Kumar c B Akhil b Appanna 17
Ravikant Shukla c B Akhil b C Raghu 35
Jyoti Yadav c Thilak Naidu b Sunil Joshi 40
Piyush Chawla not out 31
Mohammad Amir c Thilak Naidu b Sunil Joshi 1
RP Singh not out 1

Extras (b-2, lb-3, nb-2)  7

Total (for 8 wkts, 96 overs) 249

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-17, 3-17, 4-62, 5-142, 6-206, 7-217, 8-247.

Bowling: Vinay Kumar 19-11-34-3, Stuart Binny 13-2-62-0, B Akhil 17-9-23-0, K P Appanna 16-2-54-1, Sunil Joshi 22-6-51-3, C Raghu 9-3-20-1.