Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly celebrates his 47th birthday today. Ganguly, who is affectionately known as 'Dada', is regarded as one of the greatest captains in Indian cricket history.
Ganguly is credited with bringing about a revolution in the Indian team, and many players who went on to become legends for the team, made their debut under the captaincy of 'Dada'. Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, and MS Dhoni are some of the players who were given their first game by Sourav Ganguly.
Apart from his captaincy, Ganguly was also an incredibly-gifted player. A left-handed batsman, Ganguly was popularly known as the 'God of off-side'. During a 12-year long career, he played 311 ODIs, scoring 11,363 runs. He is currently the third-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs, and eighth-highest in the world.
He has hit 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries in the limited-overs format. His opening partnerships with Sachin Tendulkar are often cherished by the fans, and the duo also holds the record for the highest number of runs added by an opening duo (6609).
In test matches, Ganguly scored 7212 runs in 113 matches at an average of 42.17.
He led the team to famous test series victory against Australia in 2001, and defied the odds to lift the Natwest Trophy in 2002. In 2003, India reached the final of the World Cup, where the team agonizingly fell short to Australia.
Sourav Ganguly retired from all formats of cricket in 2008, scoring a formidable 85 in his final test match against Australia.
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