An attacking stroke maker and a useful part-time spinner, Dinesh Mongia played 57 ODIs and one T20I for India. He made his first-class debut for Punjab in the 1995/96 season. Being a consistent performer in the domestic circuit, he was continuously knocking on the selectors' door until 2000-01, a season in which he performed spectacularly and catapulted into the Indian ODI team.

Mongia made his ODI debut against Australia in 2001. He scored a half-century in his fifth match but the greatest moment of his ODI career came in Guwahati where he scored a magnificent 159* opening the batting against Zimbabwe in the series decider in March 2002. He was adjudged Man of the Match and subsequently Man of the Series for amassing 263 runs from 5 matches and also scalping 3 wickets. Thereafter, he was in and out of the team due to inconsistencies coupled with fears of technical flaws being exposed outside the subcontinent. He signed for Lancashire in 2004 and then Leicestershire in 2005. After few comebacks, he couldn't really cement his place in the Indian side and was eventually left out of the Indian team.