Former Punjab and India batter Dinesh Mongia, who was part of India’s 2003 World Cup campaign, has joined the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Tuesday, December 28, 2021.

After making his debut against Australia in 2001, Mongia played 57 ODIs for the Men in Blue, managing to score 1,230 runs at an average of 27.95. His highest score was 159 in the format and he played this knock against Zimbabwe at Guwahati in March 2002. He was also part of India’s first-ever T20I match in 2006 and made 38 runs in it.

Interestingly, Mongia was the first Indian to feature in a T20 match, when he played for Lancashire in 2004. Many eyebrows were raised when Dinesh Mongia was named in the Indian squad for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa in place of VVS Laxman, owing to his handy bowling skills as well.

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Meanwhile, he was dropped from the team in 2005 after a string of poor performances. Mongia also got an opportunity in the September 2006 tri-series against Australia and West Indies in Malaysia and there he made an unbeaten 68 in the final group game against Australia.

Later on, Mongia made his way to the Indian Cricket League (ICL), where he played for Chandigarh Lions and later on accepted the amnesty given by the BCCI after ICL folded. But Mongia didn’t play cricket after that.

(ANI inputs)