5 Indian players who were part of World Cups but slowly faded away

The World Cup is deemed to be the pinnacle of ODI cricket. It’s played in a gap of four years and teams prepare with all their might to shine in the tournament. The Indian team have won the championship twice in 1983 and 2011 under Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni’s leadership respectively.

Apart from the triumphant run, they have also played the final once and made the semi-finals quite a few times. Hence, there’s very little doubt that Men in Blue has boasted off some of the best names over the years.

A number of Indian cricketers, who have played the 50-over event, have made a name for themselves and grown in stature. However, there have been a few cricketers, who couldn’t quite extend their careers much beyond the World Cups. Lack of form mostly turned detrimental in the voyage.

In the article, let’s take a look at five Indian cricketers, who faded away after playing World Cups: –

1. Dinesh Mongia- 2003

Dinesh Mongia isn’t the most stylish batsman one would come across, but he was effective enough to feature in India’s 2003 World Cup squad. The Chandigarh-born had a tough time though, donning the national colours. In 11 matches, the left-hander could only manage 120 runs at an average of 20.

His strike-rate of 57.41 didn’t help him either. After the event, he played 15 ODIs for Team India. He was also a part of India’s first ever T20I against South Africa in 2006 at the iconic Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

In his ODI career, Mongia managed 1,230 runs in 57 matches with a top score of 159* versus Zimbabwe. He made a brief comeback for two games after missing the 2007 World Cup. But then then his stint in the Indian Cricket League virtually brought the curtains down on his journey.