Nayan Mongia: 15 facts about the former Indian wicket-keeper

Nayan Ramlal Mongia, born on December 19, 1969, was one of India’s finest wicketkeepers, keeping wickets when Anil Kumble was at his peak. Mongia played a total of 44 Tests and 140 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), with over 1,000 runs and a hundred dismissals in both formats. Suvajit Mustafi lists out 15  facts that you must know about the former Indian gloveman.

1. Early Days

Mongia was born in Vadodara, also known as Baroda. He made it to the Baroda team in the 1989-90 season, after he impressed in the India Under 19s in the 1987-88 season. In five matches, he scalped 17 dismissals behind the stumps and also scored 305 runs.

2. Inauspicious Ranji debut

Mongia made his Ranji trophy debut against Saurashtra in November 1989. He caught a catch and then batting at number eight, scored a duck.

3. Praised by Alan Knott

Thereon, Mongia had a good season. He scored 315 runs in just six games, scoring a hundred and fifty, he also had 15 victims. He then toured England and Alan Knott was impressed by his abilities. Knott reckoned that Mongia was a natural behind the stumps. It was four years before Mongia had made his Test debut.

4. Star for Baroda

In the next domestic season, Mongia scored 555 runs in just five matches, scoring two hundreds and averaged 79! This was in addition to his exceptional work behind the stumps. Mongia was the star for Baroda. Kiran More, who too is from Baroda, was the wicketkeeper for the national team at that point of time; therefore it was difficult for Mongia to break in. But under the guidance of More, Mongia was tipped to play international cricket.

5. National cap

After More’s retirement, Mongia earned a well-deserved place in the national team.
His Test debut came for India in 1994 against Sri Lanka at Lucknow. He scored an impressive 44 and also ensured five dismissals behind the stumps. He was at complete ease while keeping to the spin trio of Anil Kumble, Venkatpathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan. All three bowlers were very different from one another. His ODI debut was at Rajkot, against the same team in the following month. He didn’t get an opportunity to bat but had three dismissals as a keeper.

6. Baffling Kanpur run chase

India were looking set to win a ODI match against West Indies and they needed 63 from 54 balls, with five wickets in hand. Manoj Prabhakar and Mongia just refused to chase the target. Prabhakar was unbeaten on 102 off 154 balls, while Mongia too was unbeaten on four off 21 balls. Neither of the batsmen made any effort, as a result the selectors dropped both the players for the rest of the series. The match later had come under the scanner of match-fixing investigations.

7. ‘Aiga’

Mongia was not overtly expressive as an individual but once behind the stumps, his enthusiasm elevated to the next level. He kept cheering the bowlers and fielders and very often he was heard screaming ‘Aiga’!

8. Test hundred as an opener

In a Test against Australia in 1996, India wanted to go in the Delhi Test with three spinners and could not afford an extra batsman. As a result, Mongia was asked to open the innings. He scored a match-winning 152 against a strong Australian side. The knock spoke a lot of his abilities but he wasn’t consistent every time. He has batted at several positions with occasional success, but his keeping remained adept till the end.

Mongia later called it his best knock, “I think that was one of the best innings I ever played. I have played quiet a lot of good knocks opening the batting or batting at no.3, but this one was a very special innings for me. And that was really special because I got the Man of the Match and you know wicket keepers rarely get MOM award. Plus I also got 5 victims in that Test match and affected the best stumping of my life that of Ian Healy of Anil’s [Kumble] bowling.”

9. Keeping with a broken finger

In a relatively long career, Mongia has taken several brilliant catches but his own admission, the catch of Azhar Mahmood in the World Cup 1999 at Manchester is his favourite. “The ball was really travelling and I took a reflex catch. It was voted the Catch of the World Cup. I was keeping with a broken finger in the tournament,” said Mongia.

10. Over appealing

Mongia has been hauled up in front of match referee four times in his career. He was banned for an ODI for over appealing on three occasions when he charged down the wicket and vented out his frustration on the ball after the umpire had turned them down. He later mended his way.

11. Most catches by an Indian in a Test

Mongia holds the prestigious record for most catches by an Indian in a Test. He has caught eight catches, that too on two occasions – first, against South Africa in Durban in 1996, and repeated the feat against Pakistan in Kolkata in 1999. Unfortunately, on both occasions India lost the match. Adding to this, Mongia has also effected five dismissals in an ODI, thrice in his career.

12. Match-fixing allegations

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jaywant Lele in his book, ‘I Was There – Memoirs of a Cricket Administrator’ which was published in 2011, claimed that Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid believed Mongia was indirectly involved in match-fixing. However Lele defended Mongia and said that no Indian was involved in such incidents. Unfortunately, his name got entangled in the match-fixing saga which impacted his career.

13. Ranji Trophy triumph

In Ranji semi-final against Orissa in 2001, Mongia played a marathon innings 181 off 452 balls; he again scored a half-century in the second innings as Baroda qualified for the final. Baroda then won the final against Railways. Mongia played his last First-Class match in December 2004 and then retired.

14. Short stint with Thailand

In 2004, Mongia was invited by Thailand Cricket Association for a short coaching stint.

15. Cricket expert

Since retirement, Mongia has worked as a cricket expert for several television channels such as Star News, NDTV, etc.

(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sports marketer, strategist, entrepreneur,  philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he finds solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully [Twitter] and rivu7 [Facebook].)