Wisden overview
Dinesh Mongia has quietly gone about the job of accumulating runs without ever being showered with the encomiums reserved for flashier but less effective players. Having made his Punjab debut in 1995-96, he was a steady if unspectacular performer until the 2000-01 season when he took domestic run-getting to another level, forcing his way into the national team with a string of big innings. Pugnacious and dogged, he lacks the natural grace of most left-handers, but possesses a wide range of attacking strokes. He has done a sterling job when given a chance in the one-day side, and hammered 159 in the series decider against Zimbabwe at Guwahati in March 2002. Suspicions remain, however, that kinks in his technique could be exposed on more challenging tracks abroad. Dileep Premachandran

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