Defending Champions East Bengal never felt the absence of star striker Baichung Bhutia as they thrashed Air India 3-0 to move into the final of the 116th Durand Cup football tournament at New Delhi on Saturday.

They will meet NFL runners-up Salgaocar at the Ambedkar Stadium on Monday.

Air India neither had the firepower to score against the Kolkatans nor had the skill to stop Subash Bhowmick's men who were leading by two goals -- Malsawmtluanga (23rd) and Chandan Das (37th) -- at halftime.

Changing ends, Mike Okoro got on the scorer's list after a solo display inside the box in the 65th minute to complete the drubbing.

The biggest crowd at this year's tournament never got any really exciting end-to-end stuff as East Bengal overpowered their opponents with a double strike before the end of the first half in the one-sided encounter.

In the absence of Bhutia, who is recovering from a calf muscle injury, Malsawmtuluanga was East Bengal's key player till he was replaced at the end of the first half.

The first goal came after East Bengal went in probing through the right. A cross from the left found Malsawma perfectly in postion and the diminutive winger placed it to the right of Air India goalkeeper Raju Ekka and the ball hit it the right post before rolling in.

Malsawm was in great touch today and at least three times he put Mike Okoro through. But East Bengal's foreign striker was guilty of missing the target from close range.

Two minutes after East Bengal's opening strike, Malsawm again went in, past his marker and found Okoro who could only manage a weak shot which went straight to the 'keeper.

Air Indian forwards Suprit Jathanna and Stephen H Mar (substituted by Abbas Ali Rizvi) failed to threaten the East Bengal defence marshalled by their towering skipper Suley Musah.

The ASEAN club champions increased their lead three minutes later and part of the blame for conceding the second goal should go to Air India 'keeper Ekka.

After the AI defence was again exposed, Ekka stood rooted to his ground as Chandan Das beat him with a fine right footer following a good move by Subhas and Okoro.

Okoro scored the third goal making full use of an overruling by referee S M Balu after the assistant referee ruled him offside.

From near the touch line Okoro reached the box in no time, beat the rival 'keeper and a defender with ease and rolled the ball in even as the Air India players rushed to Balu to protest.

Air India, now in the second division NFL, came second in all the three departments and one of their few bright sparks came in the 52nd minute.

Realising that the East Bengal defence is tough to penetrate, medio Mohd Rizwan came up with a thundering long ranger, after getting halfway into the rival zone, which banged on the upright and went out much to the relief of East Bengal 'keeper Sangram Mukherjee.

Air India coach Bimal Ghosh tried Rizvi in place of Stephen but the No. 9 also came a cropper messing up a number of chances after being put through.

Meanwhile, East Bengal brought in Alvito D'Cunha on the right, in place of Subash, and the stocky winger immediately got into the thick of the action.

Latching on to a through ball, Alvito aimed at the post but Raju Ekka, as if making amends for his earlier lapses, fisted the ball which hit the cross-piece and went out.

Once again Air India players were annoyed by the Karnataka referee, this time for not pulling up Alvito for handball as he powered his way in.

Kulothungan then missed up his turn to score, managing only a feeble touch after being put through by Okoro.