119 India T20I Players, But Only One Never Played IPL – Find Out Who

So far, 119 Indian players have had the honor of representing India in the T20 Internationals. However, there is one Indian who is unfortunate in that they never got a chance to play in the IPL. He is none other than Dinesh Mongia.

It might be a little surprising to hear this as the IPL, since its inception in 2008, is the biggest T20 league in the world and almost all of the Indian T20 Internationals has been involved in some point of their careers. But it is really the opposite case for Dinesh Mongia.

He is one of those players who played for India in the nation's first ever T20I. Yet he did not get to play a single IPL match.

ICL Stint and BCCI Ban

The main reason behind this phenomenon was his association with the ICL (Indian Cricket League) a private T20 league that lasted from 2007 to 2009 and was not sanctioned by the BCCI. The league was financially supported by Zee Entertainment Enterprises and had franchises from across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Along with the 20-over version, there was a 50-over format in it as well.

The league was widely opposed by the BCCI and after its end and launch of its own approved tournament Indian Premier League in 2008, all players who played in the ICL were banned from playing in any form of recognized cricket including the IPL.

Mongia played for the Chandigarh Lions in the ICL and was even banned during the 2008 season on grounds of misconduct. When the league ended in 2009, most of the players were brought back into the BCCI setup, but unfortunately, it was never the case for Dinesh Mongia.

Match-Fixing Allegations and Denial

In the year 2015, his name was dragged in a case where former New Zealand international player Lou Vincent alleged that Mongia was part of a 'Gang of four' that was involved in match-fixing in the ICL. According to him, the New Zealand cricketer confessed to fixing matches for his ICL team Chandigarh Lions under pressure.

To the London cout, Vincent said:

"I was under direct orders from Chris Cairns to get involved in fixing. Felt good to be part of a gang."

Chris Cairns and other names such as Daryl Tuffey and Dinesh Mongia were taken during the hearing of the trial. However, Dinesh Mongia had categorically denied any match fixing allegations at all:

Mongia said:

"What he (Vincent) said is incorrect. I was not involved in any match-fixing. I played for the Chandigarh Lions but I don’t know what the New Zealanders (Cairns, Tuffey and Vincent) were doing."

The case was part of a bigger trial against Chris Cairns, who too had pleaded 'not guilty' to the charges.

Dinesh Mongia has played 57 ODIs and a solitary T20 International for India and was part of the 2003 World Cup squad. But post the ICL incident his career started fading and today after India have produced 119 T20 Internationals, Mongia remains the only Indian to have never played in IPL.