Mohun Bagan were 3-1 winners over Bengaluru FC with goals from Jeje Lalpekhlua (9'), Kean Lewis (72') and Bikramjit SIngh (80') enough to see off a solitary strike from Seminlen Doungel in the 52nd minute.
Sanjoy Sen made nine changes from the side that was in action against East Bengal in the Federation Cup with only Eduardo Fereira and Balwant Singh being retained on the team. Raynier Fernandes started in midfield while Sanjay Balmuchu was on the left side of defense.
Meanwhile for Bengaluru FC, Albert Roca too had two men from the Federation Cup win against Aizawl with Salam Ranjan Singh and CK Vineeth reprising their role. There were no foreigners in the squad as the Spaniard elected to start with an all Indian XI.
With concerted pressure from the opening side in what was an end to end affair it was Jeje Lalpekhlua who opened the scoring within the first ten minutes of the match itself. A long ball from defense saw Raynier Fernandes control the ball expertly outside the box before deftly chipping it towards the run of Jeje who reached right on time to easily work it past Ralte towards the far corner.
In the 18th minute, Malswamzuala uncorked the Mohun Bagan defense but his ball across the face of the goal just evaded CK Vineeth.
Seminlen Doungel was similarly guilty of wasting an opportunity about five minutes later as he went past the struggling defense but his last touch took the ball far away from him and allowed Shilton Paul to gather.
The first half was a topsy turvy affair and saw Balwant Singh being taken off with young Azharuddin Mullick coming on and failing to get on the end of a lovely Prabir cross form the right.
However Mohun Bagan's attacking instinct could not be curtailed as Kean Lewis ran onto a Bikramjit Singh ball before taking Nishu Kumar for a spin. His eventual shot towards goal took a meaty deflection off Gursimrat Gill and put Ralte off as it landed at the back of the net in the 72nd minute.
Bikramjit Singh made it 3-1 in the 80th minute after starting the move with a fine long diagonal to Kean Lewis on the left. Lewis's intiital shot as he came into the box was blocked but fell to Bikramjit on the edge of the box.