Hyderabad, Jan. 12 : Uttar Pradesh fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mumbai''s star batters Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar stole the limelight on the first day of the five-day Ranji Trophy final on Monday.

While Kumar captured his first five wicket haul in a final, Sharma rode his his luck to score an unbeaten 113. He was ably assisted by all-rounder Nayar, who fell one short of a well-deserved century.

Kumar stole the thunder from much more illustrious names and in-form players in the morning by reducing Mumbai to 55 for four, including consigning batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar to his first first-class duck in Indian domestic cricket.

Sharma lived a charmed life, being dropped twice by Uttar Pradesh skipper Mohammad Kaif. He added a streaky 207 with Nayar while waltzing away to his fourth first class hundred.

The final began with the question of how UP would counter Tendulkar. But in the first session, Mumbai were asking themselves how to tackle the seam movement UP bowlers were getting with the new ball.

After winning the toss on a greenish pitch, Kaif went straight to his strength - the pace bowlers. Early breakthroughs were seen as the only way UP could threaten a solid Mumbai team, who have looked unbeatable all season. The Kumars, Praveen and Bhuvneshwar, gave UP just that kind of start.

Bhuvneshwar provided UP the first breakthroughs, claiming Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Samant LBW. Mumbai lost Ajinkya Rahane, who got a shocker of a decision from from the umpire - the delivery from R P Singh that pitched outside his leg stump.

Bhuvneshwar claimed the all important wicket of Tendulkar when he inside-edged the ball onto the pad, and Shivakant Shukla ran in and dived from short midwicket to take the catch, stunning the Mumbai team.

At close of play, Mumbai''s score read 297 for 6 with Sharma on 113 and Ajit Agarkar on 21 at the crease. Kumar ended up with five wickets for 64 runs of 23 overs. (ANI)