The slender 14-run first innings lead made all the difference as Uttar Pradesh [ Images ], under the mercurial leadership of Mohammed Kaif, frustrated Bengal to win the Ranji Trophy for the first time at the K D Singh Babu stadium in Lucknow [ Images ] on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh, who scored 387 in the first innings and claimed a vital 14-run lead after bowling Bengal out for 373, were all out for 342 in the second innings on Thursday.

Aware that the trophy had eluded them, the Deep Dasgupta-led Bengal just went through the motions and finished the final day at 142 for five, with Praveen Kumar [ Images ] claiming all the wickets.

It was a moment of glory for Kaif, who led UP to its maiden Ranji title in the 72-year-old history of the tournament.

After a brilliant 92 in the first innings, Kaif scored a scintillating 109 and along with India [ Images ] teammate Suresh Raina [ Images ] (52) had a perfect warm-up for the upcoming one-day series in Pakistan.

Uttar Pradesh had reached the final thrice previously, but failed every time.

Scorecard

Uttar Pradesh (1st innings): 387 all out

Bengal (1st innings): 373 all out

Uttar Pradesh (2nd innings): (overnight 183 for 2)
P Kumar c Arindam Das b Bose 15
SK Shukla lbw b Paul 56
M Kaif c sub b Bose 109
SK Raina st Dasgupta b Singh 52
Amir Khan [ Images ] lbw b Lahiri 28
R Shamshad lbw b Lahiri 33
Piyush Chawla [ Images ] c Das b Lahiri 0
Jyoti P Yadav st Dasgupta b Singh 20
GK Pandey run out (Singh) 0
SJ Srivastava not out 3
AW Zaidi c sub b Singh 0
Extras: (b 9, lb 8, w 1, nb 8) 26
Total: (all out in 129.5 overs) 342
Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-136, 3-231, 4-250, 5-315, 6-315, 7-318, 8-321, 9-342, 10-342

Bowling: Paul 26-4-71-1, Bose 15-4-60-2, Lahiri 47-7-119-3, Singh 39.5-15-69-3, Tiwary 2-0-6-0. 

Bengal (2nd innings): (target: 357 runs)
S Lahiri c Amir Khan b Kumar 3
S Das c & b Kumar 32
A Jhunjhunwala c sub (AH Zaidi) b Kumar 0
R Gavaskar c Yadav b Kumar 5
L Shukla retired hurt 6
M Tiwary c Shamshad b Kumar 1
A Das not out 37
D Dasgupta not out 20
Extras: (w 1, nb 4) 5
Total: (for 5 wickets in 33 overs) 109

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-19, 4-39, 5-54.

Bowling: Srivastava 6-1-30-0; Kumar 9-0-33-5, Piyush Chawla 9-1-23-0, Zaidi 7-2-19-0, Raina 2-0-4-0.

Result: Match drawn.

Uttar Pradesh won their maiden Ranji Trophy title by virtue of the first innings lead.