July 8: Celebrating birthday of two iconic Bengalis, Jyoti Basu and Sourav Ganguly

Basu was the longest chief minister of any state in India. He was at the helm for more than 23 years during the Left Front regime in the state. He became the CM of Bengal in 1977 when CPI(M) came to political power.

Though he was criticised for several acts as the ruler, his decisiveness and political intelligence acclaimed praises from all corners of the nation.

Once Basu's arch rival, chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Remembering the former Bengal CM Jyoti Basu on his birth anniversary."

Sharing his birthday with the former CM is former India captain, cricketer Sourav ganguly.

Sourav Ganguly on his birthday, was lauded by his former 'Team India' mates for the transition he brought to the national side after becoming captain.

Ganguly, who turned 45 on Saturday, played his debut test match against England at historic Lords back in 1996. Gradually he developed himself into a dependable batsman in the national side while the charge of captaincy was offered to him in 2000, when the Indian cricket was embroiled in match fixing scandal.

In a tweet, Virendar Sehwag, who used to open the innings with his 'DADA' in ODIs for sometime, said: "Whatever success I could achieve in Test Cricket,I truly attribute it to the wonderful support you gave me @SGanguly99 . #HappyBirthdayDada."

Sehwag was promoted up the order in test cricket by Ganguly and allowed him to open the innings for the team. Later, Sehwag turned out to be a formidable opening batsman who scored two triple tonnes during his career.

Ganguly is always credited for nurturing the young talents in the team effectively when he was at the hot seat. Players like Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, MS Dhoni blossomed under his captaincy. 

One such player whose marvelous knock enabled Ganguly to wave his shirt at Lords' balcony and lift the Natwest Trophy in 2002, Mohammad Kaif said: "#HappyBirthdayDada ,the man who brought about a great transition in Indian cricket. Forever a legend @SGanguly99 ! May you have a grt life."

Ganguly, who was named as the Prince of Calcutta by Geoffrey Boycott, took the Indian team from the eighth position to second in test cricket. It was under his captaincy, India had a dream run to the final of World Cup 2003 till they were outplayed by Ricky Ponting's Australia. India had achieved several feats under his captaincy like winning the Natwest Trophy, becoming joint winners of Champions Trophy, victory against Australia at home or the win on Pakistan's soil.

The greatest controversy erupted in his career was in 2005 when he was dropped from the team following a rift with the then coach Greg Chappell. Later, he had an outstanding come back into the national side after ten long months though he didn't lead the team anymore.

Image of Jyoti basu: Creative Commons.
Image of Sourav Ganguly: Official Facebook page of Sourav Ganguly.