Paceman Gagandeep Singh made most of overcast conditions to grab four wickets as Punjab dismissed Bengal for 156 on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite division match at Mohali on Thursday.
With the spotlight on him, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly failed to make a mark with the bat, but returned with a two-wicket haul that reduced the hosts to 75 for 3 at the end of the first day.
After skipper Pankaj Dharmani elected to field first, Gagandeep's opening burst toppled the Bengal top order, including Ganguly, who was out for six.
Fellow-fast bowlers Ablash and VRV Singh also chipped in with crucial wickets as the visitors were dismissed in 53.1 overs.
Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta provided some steel to the line-up, as he batted for almost four hours to score 78.
He was involved in an 83-run partnership with Laxmi Ratan Shukla (30) for the sixth wicket that edged Bengal past three figures. Shukla and Dharmani were the only batsmen to cross double figures.
Hosts Punjab had a disastrous start also, losing Karan Goel to a run-out in the third over with the team score on six.
Ganguly then struck with the wickets of Muneesh Sharma (31) and Dharmani off successive deliveries to peg back the home team.
Scorecard
Bengal 1st innings
S Das run out (Singh) 6
A Das lbw b Gagandeep Singh 5
A Jhunjhunwala b Gagandeep Singh 0
S Ganguly c & b Gagandeep Singh 6
R Gavaskar c Gupta b Ablash 0
D Dasgupta c Dharmani b Ablash 78
L Shukla lbw b Gagandeep Singh 30
S Lahiri run out (Ricky) 7
R Bose c Dharmani b Singh 4
E Ahmid b Rajesh Sharma 1
A Dinda not out 0
Extras (b 3, lb 6, w 1, nb 9) 19
Total (all out; 53.1 overs; 250 mins) 156
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-11, 4-16, 5-18, 6-91, 7-112, 8-138, 9-156, 10-156
Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 15 3 36 4, Ablash 13.1 2 39 2, VRV Singh 12 2 52 1, Uniyal 10 5 16 0, Rajesh Sharma 3 1 4 1
Punjab 1st innings
R Ricky not out 33
K Goel run out (Lahiri/Dasgupta) 1
M Sharma lbw b Ganguly 31
P Dharmani lbw b Ganguly 0
R Sodhi not out 5
Extras (lb 1, w 1, nb 3) 5
Total (3 wickets; 29 overs) 75
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-63, 3-64
Bowling: Bose 9 2 24 0, Ahmid 5 1 14 0, Dinda 6 1 24 0, Ganguly 9 1 12 2