Calcutta: It was a good start by Bengal and quite a few of their players as well. Deep Dasgupta batted brilliantly in the first innings to top-score with 78 when the others slipped on the greentop. In the second innings, Sourav Ganguly came up with a useful 43. The killer-punch came from young Ashok Dinda, who scalped five for 57 to inflict on Punjab a 14-run defeat in their own backyard on Saturday.

Dinda, quite naturally, was on seventh heaven with accolades pouring in from all corners. “In the first innings also I bowled well, but pitched the ball a bit short… when I came on in the second, I tried to rectify my mistake,” he told The Telegraph from Mohali.

Dinda enjoyed bowling on the greentop in Mohali. “I put my cent per cent on a hard and bouncy wicket, and I’m happy my effort turned out to be crucial in the end,” Dinda said.

It was Dinda’s third five-wicket haul in his brief first-class career. “There was this urgency today (Saturday) as were defending a small target. We all were charged up to start our Ranji campaign with a win. It’s most satisfying to get things right at the right time,” Dinda said.

According to Dinda, the extra pressure on batsmen on this sort of a wicket made his job a bit easier.

“When we were bowled out in the second innings in the morning, the ball was doing a lot. When they came out to bat in the fourth innings, the onus was on them to pull through,” Dinda stated.

Dinda doesn’t want to stop here. He wants to carry on the good work right through the season and help Bengal go one better than their runners-up finish last season.