Dinesh Mongia Announces Retirement From All Forms Of Cricket At 42

12 years after playing his last international game for India, former all-rounder Dinesh Mongia called it quit from all forms of cricket at the age of 42. Mongia last donned the Indian jersey back in 2007 in an ODI against Bangladesh after which he faced the wrath of the BCCI for participating in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL). The apex cricket board cleared all the players who featured in ICL but interestingly, Mongia was the only one who didn’t get the clearance for his alleged involvement in match-fixing. He, along with New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns, was named in the case in 2015 by former Kiwi cricketer Lou Vincent, during a hearing at Southwark Crown Court in London. However, the former Indian left-armer denied his involvement in the allegations of corruption. The highlight of Mongia’s career was his selection in the Indian squad for ICC World Cup 2003 under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly. Earlier, he garnered the limelight with his unbeaten 159-run innings opening the batting against Zimbabwe at Guwahati in March 2002. Following this innings, he was picked for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa that India ended up losing to Australia in the finals. He played 11 matches for India in the tournament but could bat only in 6 of those. His highest score was 42 against the Netherlands. He 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 also played only T20I against South Africa which was incidentally India’s first international T20 game, lead by Virender Sehwag. Mongia played 121 first-class matches for Punjab in the domestic circuit, amassing 8028 runs at a decent average of 48.95. His last competitive match was in ICL in 2008.