LUCKNOW, Dec. 30 -- A five-wicket haul by pacer Prithviraj Singh helped former champions Uttar Pradesh take a slender 15-run first innings lead against Gujarat on the opening day of their three-day crucial last league match of the U16 Vijay Merchant Trophy on Monday. Right-arm pacer Singh took 5/41, whereas two other pacers Aryan Tyagi (3/15) and Kamran Ali (2/15) too came up with some fine performances to get Gujarat out for paltry 103 in their first innings in 46.3 over while fielding first after winning the toss. In reply, Uttar Pradesh finished the day at 118/2 in 37 overs. Making full use of the grassy turf at the JNN College of Engineering Ground at Shimoga, Uttar Pradesh bowlers, especially Prithviraj ripped through Gujarat's innings. Once Aryan Tyagi and Kamran Ali removed the top three batters to leave the rivals tottering at 29/3 in 16.1 overs, Prithviraj became lethal, removing Vansh Shah (25), Divya Desai (8), Jayvardhansinh Chavda (4), Swapna Patel (5) and Het Chaudhary (0) quite quickly. In reply, Uttar Pradesh despite losing opener Hitesh Kumar (2) on the very last ball of the first over, managed to score 118/2 as all-rounder Kamran Ali and captain-keeper Aalok Kumar added 65 runs between them before Akli was retired hurt after scoring 34-ball 28, which contained five boundaries. Kumar remained unbeaten on 43, which came off 107 balls with the help of seven hits to the fence. Rudra Veer struck 39 in 72 balls with the help of six boundaries, whereas Arush Gupta (4) was at the crease along with Kumar when the stumps were drawn on Monday....