Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly turns 43

The cricketer, who is known for his charismatic batting skills and captaincy, turned 43 as cricketers wished him on various social networking sites.

Under  his leadership, the Indian side performed well on foreign soil especially in Australia, Pakistan and England.

Wishing the cricketer on his birthday, former Indian skipper Anil Kumble tweeted,"Happy birthday dada @SGanguly99 have a great year ahead! God bless!"

Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja wished him and said: "#HappyBirthdayDada."

The ICC greeted the former Indian skipper and posted: "Happy Birthday to one of @BCCI's finest batsmen of the 21st century, Sourav Ganguly! http:/"

Celebrating Ganguly's birthday, '#HappyBirthdayDada' is currently trending on Twitter.

While he was the captain of the Indian cricket team, he had guided the young Indian side to the World Cup final in 2003 in South Africa where they lost to Australia in the final.

He retired from the national team in 2008 after the Test series against Australia on the home turf.

Besides a cricketer he will always be remembered as a man who fought to return to the Indian side over and over again despite being dropped from the team for questionable reasons.

His disputes with former Indian coach Greg Chappell was the fodder for media and had his fans in Bengal rallying round him.

In West Bengal Sourav Ganguly has a cult following almost and he is the favourite 'Dada' of Indian cricket.

Sourav has also played for the Kolkata Knight Riders team of Indian Premiere League (IPL), and then for the Pune Warriors India.