India’s Test wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia is celebrating his birthday today i.e. on 19th December. The always smiling Nayan Mongia played 184 international matches in his career. He was called ‘natural wicketkeeper’. Nayan Mongia, who scored only one century in his international career, was born on 19 December 1969 in Baroda, Gujarat.
Nayan Mongia played first-class cricket for Baroda and made a place in Team India on the basis of his good performance. In 1994 he got a chance to debut in international cricket. He played his first test match against Sri Lanka in Lucknow. In his 44 Test career, he took a total of 107 wickets but he was also associated with controversies off the field.
He was very enthusiastic on the field and tried his best to boost the morale of the team. Once appealed to encourage the team and then protested against the umpire’s decision. For this he was fined and also suspended. At the same time, in the 1990s, he was accused of match fixing. However the allegations could not be proved. Nayan also took charge of the opening. In the year 1996, Nayan Mongia performed brilliantly in the test match played against Australia in Delhi.
Nayan had opened in that match and played a strong inning of 152 runs for India. During this period, he faced 366 balls and hit 10 fours and 1 six. India scored 361 runs in its first innings. India won this match by 7 wickets and Nayan Mongia was chosen man of the match.
There is also an incident related to Nayan Mongia. In the series against Pakistan, he was seen keeping wickets with a broken finger. Mongia played 158 matches in first-class cricket and scored a total of 7736 runs. During this period he also scored 12 centuries and 45 half-centuries. The Asia Cup match against Pakistan in Dhaka proved to be his last ODI. In the year 2000, Pakistan had won this ODI match by 44 runs. Mongia played 14 balls and scored only 4 runs. After this he was never able to make a place in the ODI team again. He played his last first-class match in 2004.
