As Sourav Ganguly celebrates his 47th birthday, wishes for the former Indian captain are pouring in from all around. One man who is certain to congratulate the birthday boy is his friend and long-time teammate Sachin Tendulkar. While we can safely assume that there will be a call from Tendulkar's side to his former captain, the master blaster also put out a tweet wishing Dada a happy birthday.
However, there may have been a little mistake by the man who scored 100 international hundreds. He wrote: "Happy Birthday Dadi! From playing with you in our Under-15 days to now commentating with you. It's been quite a journey. Have a great year ahead!"
Now there are two possibilities. One that while typing his message for Ganguly, Sachin erred and accidentally wrote Dadi, which means grandmother in Hindi. Or, as seems the case from the exclamation mark in front of the word, it is a joke played by Tendulkar who shares a very close relationship with Ganguly.
The 'Prince of Kolkata' had become well-known as Dada to his teammates, especially younger ones that came into the side during his captaincy. Dada is an affectionate way to address the elder brother in Bengal. As time has gone on, this title of his has become so popular that the community of Indian cricket fans also use it to refer to Sourav Ganguly. There have been, rather hilarious, instances of even players senior than him, like Kapil Dev, calling him Dada while commentating.
Sourav Ganguly made his ODI debut in 1992 but couldn't retain his place in the team. But he returned to international cricket in 1996 when he made a century on debut against England at Lord's. Interestingly, he took over the captaincy from Sachin Tendulkar in 2000 after the latter resigned following India's loss in a 2-Test home series against South Africa. Ganguly ended up being one of the most important and successful captains of all time in Indian cricket.
