Pacer Mukesh Kumar (3/33) and Abhimanyu Easwaran (51 not out) shone as Bengal overpowered Karnataka by seven wickets to earn a direct quarter-final berth at the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy.

The comfortable win with two overs to spare at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday helped Bengal leapfrog Karnataka and top Group B.

Bengal may have to face Karnataka again in the quarters on November 18, provided the Manish Pandey-led side beat Saurashtra in the pre-quarters on November 16.

Mukesh starred for Bengal, negating the threat of openers Mayank Agarwal and Devdutt Padikkal with the Karnataka openers departing for four and nought, respectively.

Thereafter, Abhimanyu paced his innings wonderfully against the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Krishnappa Gowtham to take Bengal home. “It was a different format, but contributing to my team’s cause gives me a lot of confidence,” said Abhimanyu, as he gets ready for the India A tour of South Africa.

Brief scores: Karnataka 134/8 in 20 ovs (K. Nair 44; M. Kumar 3/33). Bengal 138/3 in 18 ovs (A. Easwaran 51 n.o.). Bengal won by 7 wkts.