12 years after playing his last ODI, former India cricketer Dinesh Mongia announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the age of 42 on Tuesday. Mongia last played for India in an ODI in Dhaka in 2007 before joining the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) and getting a ban from BCCI. All the players participating in ICL were later cleared by BCCI but interestingly, Dinesh Mongia was the only one not to get a clearance from the board for his alleged involvement in match-fixing.
Former New Zealand cricketer Lou Vincent had named Mongia as well as the Kiwi all-rounder Chris Cairns in the match-fixing case in 2015 during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London.
Mongia, however, had denied his involvement in the allegations of corruption in the now-defunct ICL.
The left-handed top-order batsman, who also bowled useful left-arm orthodox, was a member of India’s 2003 World Cup squad which finished as runner ups under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.
Mongia made his debut for India back in 2001 against Australia and went on to represent the country in 57 ODIs scoring 1230 runs at an average of 27.95. He also had 14 wickets to his name.
Mongia’s claim to fame was an unbeaten 159-run innings opening the batting against Zimbabwe at Guwahati in March 2002. Based on that knock a few other crucial innings Mongia made it to India’s squad for the 2003 World Cup. He played 11 matches for India in the World Cup but got the opportunity to bat in only 6 of those. His highest score was 42 against Netherlands.
Mongia also played a solitary T20I against South Africa which was incidentally India’s first international T20 game.
Mongia represented Punjab in the first-class cricket. He played 121 first-class matches scoring 8028 runs at a healthy average of 48.95.
His last competitive match was in ICL in 2008.
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