I matured as an all-rounder: Mongia

‘‘It was a great experience, a great honour,’’ he kept repeating after almost every sentence. ‘‘To represent the country in a World Cup is the ultimate dream of any cricketer and the fact that I am a member of a team which did well in the tournament adds to the joy,’’ Mongia gushed.

Scoring 120 runs in 11 matches of the World Cup at an average of about 20 may not bring a smile on the faces of his fans but Mongia is happy. ‘‘I am satisfied with my performance. I scored useful runs against England (32) and Holland (42) batting at No 4. And then, with all the batsmen in such a good form, I didn’t get much opportunity to add to the total coming at No 7.’’

The southpaw also thinks he did enough to justify his selction in the squad (remember he was selected ahead of VVS Laxman on the basis of his fielding). ‘‘I was joint third along with Viru (Virender Sehwag) when it came to taking the maximum number of catches — eight — in the tournament just behind Ricky Ponting (11) and Brett Lee (9). Morever, I also got an opportunity to swing my arm and take wickets. So, overall I matured as an all-rounder and did what the team demanded from me.’’

Mongia thanked Ganguly for the confidence reposed in him and other youngsters. The best memory of the Cup for him, however, remains the post victory celebrations after defeating Pakistan.

‘‘Oh, we partied all night. I will never forget that match. It was just superb,’’ he exults while recalling the March 1 encounter.

And what about the now-famous huddle that Indians got into in the field after taking every wicket? ‘‘Well, it was the idea of senior members of the team and it brought out excellent results. Everyone was free to say anything and most of the time it was an enouraging stuff.’’

The tri-nation series in Dhaka next month will probably be Mongia’s next assignment now but that doesn’t mean he can rest at home easily. Indians will be playing a benefit match for melody queen Lata Mangeshkar against Sri Lanka later this week and Mongia will be in Mumbai for that game. This will be followed by a celebrity marriage (that of Rohan Gavaskar, son of Sunil Gavaskar) which Mongia will be attending.