Sourav Ganguly joins 40's club: HAPPY B'DAY DADA!!

HAPPY B'DAY SAURAV

Some felt he couldn't play the bouncer, others swore that he was God on the off-side; some laughed at his lack of athleticism, others took immense pride in his ability to galvanise a side. Sourav Ganguly's ability to polarise opinion led to one of the most fascinating dramas in Indian cricket. Yet, nobody can dispute that he was India's most successful Test captain - forging a winning unit from a bunch of talented, but directionless, individuals - and nobody can argue about him being one of the greatest one-day batsmen of all time. Despite being a batsman who combined grace with surgical precision in his strokeplay, his career had spluttered to a standstill before being resurrected by a scintillating hundred on debut at Lord's in 1996. Later that year, he was promoted to the top of the order in ODIs and, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in history.

WISHING THIS GREAT MAN A BLASTING B'DAY....

BLESS HIM WITH YOUR WISHES

Full name Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Born July 8, 1972, Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bengal

Current age 40 years 0 days

Major teams India, Asia XI, Bengal, East Zone,
Glamorgan,India Under-19s, Kolkata Knight Riders,
Lancashire,Marylebone Cricket Club, Northamptonshire, Pune Warriors

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm medium

Height 5 ft 11 in

Education St Xavier's College

Relation Brother - Snehasish C Ganguly

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	113	188	17	7212	239	42.17	14070	51.25	16	35	900	57	71	0
ODIs	311	300	23	11363	183	41.02	15416	73.70	22	72	1122	190	100	0
First-class	254	399	44	15687	239	44.18			33	89			168	0
List A	437	421	43	15622	183	41.32			31	97			131	0
Twenty20	77	73	4	1726	91	25.01	1613	107.00	0	8	184	51	28	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	113	99	3117	1681	32	3/28	3/37	52.53	3.23	97.4	0	0	0
ODIs	311	171	4561	3849	100	5/16	5/16	38.49	5.06	45.6	1	2	0
First-class	254		11108	6099	167	6/46		36.52	3.29	66.5		4	0
List A	437		8199	6646	171	5/16	5/16	38.86	4.86	47.9	4	2	0
Twenty20	77	37	573	756	29	3/27	3/27	26.06	7.91	19.7	0	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	England v India at Lord's, Jun 20-24, 1996
Last Test	India v Australia at Nagpur, Nov 6-10, 2008
ODI debut	India v West Indies at Brisbane, Jan 11, 1992
Last ODI	India v Pakistan at Gwalior, Nov 15, 2007
First-class debut	1989/90
Last First-class	Baroda v Bengal at Vadodara, Dec 21-24, 2011
List A debut	1989/90
Last List A	Bengal v Mumbai at Delhi, Mar 12, 2012
Twenty20 debut	Glamorgan v Somerset at Cardiff, Jun 22, 2005
Last Twenty20	Pune Warriors v Kolkata Knight Riders at Pune, May 19, 2012