‘Teammates believed Mongia was involved’

While Mohammad Azharuddin,Ajay Jadeja and Ajay Sharma were handed bans of varying degrees based on their involvement in match-fixing back in 2000,the Baroda stumper and Kapil Dev,who also came under the scanner,were acquitted by the CBI.

‘Adding Spice’

“You do need to add some spice to sell your book. But not at the expense of someone’s integrity. The three incidents he has noted (which were brought to Mongia’s notice) are cricketing ones and I have provided clarifications for them to those concerned back then,” added Mongia.

Lele,however,has asserted in his book that the senior Indian players had made up their minds that Mongia indeed was an ‘accomplice’ and considered his earlier cricketing grievances as indirect evidence of his involvement in match-fixing.

The first incident that Lele mentions in the book is the ODI against West Indies that was played in Kanpur back in 1994,where Mongia was suspended for two matches after being accused of deliberately scoring slowly-16 runs in 9 overs-in a match that India eventually lost. “Later during investigations he said that he could not exactly remember who gave him the message,” he writes. “I have already given enough clarifications about what happened during that match,and I am sure he is totally aware of what occurred back then,” said Mongia about the incident.

The second incident,according to Lele,was during the Test against Australia at Mumbai in 2001,where Mongia retired hurt at the end of the second day and returned the next day to score a sparkling half-century. His second innings dismissal,where he is supposed to have walked off despite the umpire having given him not-out following a caught-behind appeal only added to Mongia’s woes,writes Lele.

Mongia,however,insisted that he deserved to be appreciated for batting with intense pain and for his integrity rather than be admonished for it.

“I batted with a swollen thumb having taken cortizone injections,and then kept wickets with one hand. How can that not be a good thing? And only the batsman knows when he has nicked a ball,and I don’t remember any animosity regarding that dismissal,” he said.

Mongia also clarified Lele’s third allegation about the Test match in Chennai against Pakistan,where he is claimed to have gone against Tendulkar’s requests of refraining from the pull-shot and getting out to one. “The pullshot is totally a instinctive one,and no one can be held guilty for just getting out. And there were three more batsmen left after me,including Tendulkar (Joshi,Srinath and Prasad),so I can’t be solely held responsible for India losing that match,” he stated.

Incidentally,Mongia is scheduled to be one of the guests of honour when Lele releases his biography in his hometown of Baroda.