Father always told me that wicket-keeping is a thankless job: Mohit Mongia

Baroda’s Under-19 captain Mohit Mongia has a very clear thought process. Unlike his father Nayan Mongia, who has represented India in 44 Test matches and 140 ODIs as a wicket-keeper batsman, Mohit opted to become a left-arm spinner instead. Nayan Mongia has been arguably one of India’s best wicket-keeper. Mongia has more than 200 catches and 50-plus stumpings under his belt at the international level.

Mohit decided not to follow his fathers foot-steps and rather went on to learn the art of slow-left-arm bowling from coach Vinit Wadkar. He said that his father always told him that wicket-keeping is a thankless job and he too got a feel very early in his career that he wasn’t meant to stand behind the stumps.

Mohit didn’t go his father’s way

“My father always told me that wicket-keeping is a thankless job. I also realised that keeping wickets was not meant for me. So when my coach suggested that I start bowling left-arm spin, I was almost immediately convinced,” Mohit,

“Modern cricket requires players to be multi-faceted,” Nayan observed. “He was bowling well and was making useful contributions with the bat. Both me and Wadkar were convinced that it was about time Mohit started taking his batting a bit more seriously,” the former India stumper said.

Baroda beat Mumbai

“We did not expect to win so convincingly. But our bowlers bowled really well. We wanted to restrict Mumbai between 175-200, but we got them all out for 143, which was quite unexpected to be honest. It was a good wicket to bat on and we enjoyed playing here. We thought we were comfortable while chasing the target, so that’s why we chose to bowl.” the skipper said after registering a win over Mumbai in the Vinoo Mankad Under-19 One Day match at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Bandra Kurla Complex facility.