5 Facts you might not know about India's first T20I

2. Dinesh Mongia played his career’s only T20I

Back in the early 2000s, Dinesh Mongia was a player who was looked upon to have a bright future for the Indian team. Mongia played for the national team regularly under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly. He was the part of the squad which ended being the runners-up at the 2003 World Cup.

But soon after the mega event, Mongia started to disappear from the scene. He was being dropped in favour of VVS Laxman or young players like MS Dhoni, Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh. From 2004 till 2007, he made very few appearances in the Indian XI, even though his domestic performances were keeping him in the squad.

During the South Africa tour, Mongia was in the squad and this match ended up being his career’s only T20I match ever. As a matter of fact, he was the top-scorer for India with 38 off 45 balls. He had a good partnership with Dinesh Karthik which helped India to win the match.