Nayan Mongia

Chirpy, lightning quick and intelligent, Nayan Mongia was an important member of the Indian team in the 1990’s. With good reflexes and sharp thinking, he was an effective wicket-keeper and a fine batsman whose career was blighted by match-fixing allegations.

When he first toured England, he received a lot of praise from Alan Knott who declared him a ‘natural’. Prior to this, he was the understudy of Kiran More and barely got a chance to impress. But when his turn came calling, he grabbed it with both hands. From then on, he became India’s number one keeper. As mentioned earlier, he was an effective batsman who could bat anywhere in the order, but he prospered the most in the opening slot. His brilliant 152 against Australia at Delhi in 1996 was a testament to this fact.

Towards the later half of his career, allegations of fixing matches arose and Mongia was found guilty of indulging himself in these controversies. He was then suspended from the team for not trying to win a match and showing dissent against an umpiring decision. He was finally axed from the team when found guilty of these allegations and never made it back to the team. He continued to play domestic cricket for his home team, Vadodara. In 2004, he retired completely after being left out of the domestic team as well. Following his retirement, he became a full time cricket analyst.