• Source:JND

JE Sports Desk:  India celebrate Sourav Ganguly's birthday, popularly known as 'Prince of Kolkata' as Dada turns 51 with fans wishing him all around the country.

Ganguly is regarded as one of the most successful captains, the nation has ever produced, someone who changed Indian cricket forever. It was under Dada's captaincy, India started winning overseas and competing with toughness against strong sides like Australia and England.

During his playing days, the southpaw knocked the winds out of top-quality bowlers with his elegant stroke play and amassed truckloads of runs.

Apart from his unique style of captaincy, Ganguly was also a great man manager, having groomed the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Virender Sehwag, and many more who went on to bring proud laurels for the country.

 

ALSO READ: 'It Gives Me Fuel And Additional Motivation': Novak Djokovic Threatens Crowd After Being Booed Ahead Of Third Round Clash

 

It was also Ganguly who changed the life of MS Dhoni, a newcomer under his leadership, as he first opted to go for the youngster and then promoted him up in the batting order even sacrificing his position and the rest they say is history.

His aggression and activeness on the field introduced a new thinking of Indian cricket to never back down regardless of the situations team may face.

Besides his skills with bat and ball, the Kolkata-born was a shrewd leader and is touted as one of the finest minds to have graced the sport. Under his leadership, India became a force to be reckoned with in world cricket.

Ganguly posted a video on his social media hours before his birthday, showing moments of his cricketing days.

"The support & love keeps us going. Few more hours to go ...," he captioned the tweet.

His former teammate and junior Irfan Pathan took a funny jibe at him and ended up spotting an error in the video Dada posted.

โ€œDaadi I never knew that we look so similar while batting that you will get confused;) But Thank you I will take that as a huge compliment,โ€ Pathan joked in his tweet, referring to Ganguly as โ€˜daadiโ€™ which is what his teammates used to often call him.

 

ALSO READ: BCCI Plans To Formulate Policy On Indian Players' Participation In Overseas Leagues, Stadiums Upgradation To Take Place In 2 Phases

 

Ganguly went on to be recognised as one of the greatest batters to have come out of India, particularly in ODIs. He scored 7212 runs in 113 Tests at an average of 42.17 with 16 centuries. In ODI cricket, Ganguly played 311 matches, scoring 11,363 runs at an average of 41.02 with 22 centuries. His partnership record of 8227 runs with Sachin Tendulkar remains the highest in the history of ODI cricket.

Here are some more wishes to Dada from his former teammates and fans:

Also In News