Brian Lara, former West Indies captain, is celebrating his 51st birthday on Saturday and wishes poured in from all parts of the globe for the cricket legend. The International Cricket Council (ICC) took to Twitter to revisit a "classic from the Prince" that saw the West Indies progress to the semi-finals of the 1996 World Cup. "It's Brian Lara's birthday, but this gem of an innings is a gift for all of us. From the archives, a classic from the Prince in the 1996 @cricketworldcup. His 111 from 94 balls against South Africa carried West Indies to the semi-final," the ICC captioned the video.
Harbhajan Singh, veteran India off-spinner, was among the first cricketers to wish Lara on Twitter.
"Happy birthday to the most dashing,dominating,stylish,left handed batsman that has played the game.. Prince of Trinidad A top man @BrianLara Glad I played cricket in the era where these legends played the game and inspired," Harbhajan Singh tweeted.
Lara holds the record for the highest individual score in Test cricket. The West Indies great remained unbeaten on 400 against England in Antigua in 2004.
Lara made his Test debut against Pakistan in 1990 and went onto to play 131 matches for his country.
The left-handed batsman scored 11,953 runs with the help of 34 hundreds and 48 half-centuries in the longest format of the game.
In 1994, Lara smashed 501 runs, the highest individual score in first-class cricket, as he went past Pakistan's Hanif Mohhamad who had scored 499.
Lara also represented the West Indies in 299 One-Day Internationals (ODI). He scored over 10,000 runs in the 50-over format and slammed 19 centuries during his 17-year long career.