Dinesh Mongia

A left hander with a penchant for tall scores, Dinesh Mongia made his Ranji Trophy debut in 1995-96. He had a rather sedate entry, getting to play just a single game against Baroda in which he scored 21. But the following season witnessed Mongia blossom and stake a claim for a permanent place in the Punjab squad with 521 runs in the Ranji Trophy inclusive of 115 against Himachal Pradesh and an unbeaten 207 against Services. After a disappointing 1997-98 season, Mongia again roared back to form, aggregating 667 runs at an average of 47.50 the next season, thanks to two centuries. By this time, he was a member of the North Zone squad for the Duleep Trophy. He maintained his reputation in the 1999-2000 season, scoring 758 runs in the ten matches that he played in the national competition.

Mongia's growing stature as a free stroking batsman gained further momentum during the 2000-2001 season. The elegant southpaw stamped his class by hitting the Jammu & Kashmir bowlers for 308, while sharing a 330-run stand for the fourth wicket with Pankaj Dharmani. This, the highest score by a Punjab batsman in the Ranji Trophy, was the start of a dream run. In the Duleep Trophy that followed, he amply demonstrated that he had arrived on the national scene. First he hit a stroke filled 201 against a strong South Zone attack which included five bowlers who had played for the country. A couple of matches later, Mongia battered the Central Zone attack for a thrilling 208. Such consistency could not escape the selectors' eye and a place among the 25 probables for the series against Australia is just reward for a batsman who is fired up by a challenge