Embattled former Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly struck form with an unbeaten 89 to guide Bengal into the semi-finals of Inter-State limited-overs' tournament in Kanpur on Thursday.
Chasing Punjab's modest target of 229, Bengal were off to a flying start, openers Ganguly and Subhomoy Das sharing a 95-run stand. The cruising Bengal ship was, however, rocked by an incisive spell from pacer V R V Singh, who claimed four scalps for 53 runs.
Ganguly, however, kept his composure, and along with Sanjib Sanyal (11) sealed a four-wicket victory in the 39th over.
The southpaw clouted the Punjab bowlers to every corner of the Green Park stadium during his sterling knock, which was inclusive of 11 boundaries.
Earlier, winning the toss, Bengal decided to field.
Despite a powerful knock of 76 by former India player Dinesh Mongia, the Punjab side failed to withstand the menacing bowling of seamer Ranadeo Bose, who grabbed five crucial wickets for 34 runs. Punjab were bundled out for 229 in the 50th over.
In the other quarter-final, played at the OEF ground, Baroda pipped Jharkhand by 35 runs.
Batting first after losing the toss, Baroda scored 213 for eight in the stipulated 50 overs thanks to knocks of 59 and 29 by Hrishikesh Parabl and Ajit Bhoide respectively.
Mihir Diwan and Shahbaz Nadeem claimed three wickets each for Jharkhand, while Sunny Gupta finished with two sclaps.
In reply, Jharkhand were all out for 178 in the 44th over, against the bowling of Yusuf Pathan (four wickets) and Ketan Panchal (three wickets). Manish Kumar (45) waged a lone battle for Jharkhand.
In Friday's last two quarter-finals, hosts UP take on Karnataka and Tamil Nadu clash with Railways.
Tamil Nadu and UP were joint-winners in the last edition of the limited-overs' tourney.
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