This was never more apparent than in the match against England at Durban, where his 38 took all of 62 balls. In a game where India scored just 250, I thought his labored stint did India no good. But that was before Nehra took over and broke England’s back with a World Cup best performance for India.

That was 2003. Three years thence, both men have been cast by the sidelines. In Nehra’s case it has been his perennial fitness issues. He has been in and out of the team. But in Mongia’s case, he has never recovered from the debacle that was WC’03. Playing only a handful of games for India, Mongia has since concentrated on turning out for Punjab and also in summer at Old Trafford and later at Grace Road, with considerable success.

Though I agree with Anand Vasu when he says that that Mongia’s inclusion is a case of short term pragmatism, it strikes me as incongruous that Mongia has been asked to leave Leicester early where he has been one of their top performers. In fact, considering his average this year and that he will miss out on four more stints at the crease, this early departure might even prevent him from completing 1000 first class runs for Leicestershire this season.

The BCCI’s demand is especially striking when you consider that Nehra who is playing club cricket in England has been allowed to stay away from a camp that he was invited to in order to assess his fitness, something that has not been his strong point in the past.

But apart from all this, why do I get this feeling that both Nehra and Mongia will not make the squad in the near future? In Mongia’s case, it is obvious that, with the current composition of the squad, he has a tough fight in his hands.

In Nehra’s case however, it is different. To the consipiracy theorist in me, it seems that, with Nehra’s history, the selectors are hoping to let the law of averages work itself into the equation and that he shall break down yet again in action in England with his club team, rather than on tour with India.

Will I eat my words? At least in Mongia’s case, I hope I do. The man deserves another chance, at least on the basis of current form.

Perhaps you should have kept your silence; you talk about two has beens, and Nehra has by far been the better servant for India. Maybe Mongia's a better "yes" man than Ganguly but is your respect for cricket so low that you tell us, your audience that you have come out of a comatose state with regards to Diff Strokes to regale us with this nonsense? Please don't write anything if you cannot be bothered. Because quite frankly, sir, you are absolutely no loss to the audience of fans and readers.

As a keen Indian cricket follower, my feeling is that the step to include Dinesh Mongia is a positive one.

As Anantha says, he deserves a chance if only for his very good performances with Leicestershire. At Leicester, he has been pretty good with the ball as well. He could be ideal floater that India is looking for. It would also help that Pathan could be eased of that responsibility and concentrate more on his bowling.

He had done a lot of bowling (over 150 overs) which makes him an ideal candidate as a 5th bowling option at least on slow-low pitches of SriLanka and coming in at No.6 his experience would be handy.

Plus, he is a pretty good outfielder which would be the added advantage, though his inclusion would mean the talented Suresh Raina would have to sit out.

A point to ponder is that Suresh Raina does bowl in domestic cricket but has been rarely used at the highest level. If India were to include Mongia purely because he can bowl then why not use Suresh Raina.

And as far as team composition goes, picking Mongia or Raina would mean India go back to 6 + 1 + 4 strategy using Sehwag, Yuvrag, Mongia and perhaps Sachin Tendulkar as 5th bowler.

Nehra has been a big enigma for all of us. I guess Nehra would be the best person to help us know more about him and his fickle fitness. :-)

P.S- The way things are going the core team that would travel to West Indies might be the same as in WC 2003

Feroz: The poor writer I am at present, I perhaps failed to mention in block capitals that this post was not about choosing Mongia over Nehra. So it is irrelevant to argue over which of these "has beens" is more suited for India's cause at the moment. In fact, the point about this post was that someone whose fitness has been in scrutiny is allowed to skip the fitness part of the camp (to play for a team in the minor leagues) while someone whose form was in question earlier is forced to skip part of a season when he is fine form and fitness (unless there is something I don't know here). And the conspiracy theorist reasoned that it was all to establish alibis in future since from where I sit, neither seem to fit in any plans, apart from ones made for contingency. Am I clear now? I appreciate your comment. If not anything, it will force me to write more to improve. So I WILL be popping here from time to time.

Parameshwaran: Yes, it is a positive sign to put in Mongia now when he is in some form. But as I told Feroz, and as Anand Vasu reasons, this is pretty much a contingency move, especially with Raina around (as you say). And yes, Nehra the enigma. In my eyes, the derision that I reserved for Mongia, unjustly perhaps (I don't know!), is now been transferred to Nehra. But then, if he can come in and do his thing that he did in the last World cup, then I am sure, like every other armchair enthusiast, I'd be in cloud nine and all will be good. What to do? We are like that wonly!
As about the team composition for the World Cup, the core has changed, hasn't it? Dhoni is around and Ganguly is gone. Srinath is out while Pathan seems to be in. And these were and are core players, aren't they? And hey, thanks for the comment.

Hey Anantha,
I agree that some of the core players are not around. But it would be only a fool to comment that Ganguly might not be there in the WC squad.

If you analyze though, we still would have the same top-order. Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Yuvraj and Kaif making up the Top 5.

I agree that it would have been better if Nehra was in the fitness camp rather than bowling against minor counties.

"Looking at the future" like our selectors say, India have about 8 bowlers (including Nehra) for the WC. Apart from the 5 India has chosen to go to S.L; I would also put L.Balaji and Zaheer Khan's name as well.

Mongia may not be the ideal floater that India need. In ODI's - and much more in Tests - India are in desperate need of one batsman who can bowl passable medium pace (as against spin - we have Yuvi, Sach and Sehwag decently covering all three varieties of the trade as part-timers), in other words a replacement of the corest of cores in that 2003 team - Sourav Ganguly.

I play in holland under 19 team. i m an all rounder and i want to make it up to top i mean i want to play in County. what should i work aan to get aan the top. i want to be the next imran Khan