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 The Test match between India and West Indies that was held at Kolkata in 2002 was one of the memorable Test matches between the two countries, played in India. The match saw some brilliant batting performances from the batsmen of both the teams. Some of the bowlers have also shown their excellence in this match. It was the 3rd and final match in the 3-Test series and India had already won the series by a margin of 2-0, as it won both the first two matches. The Indian skipper, Saurav Ganguly won the toss and decided to bat first in the match.
Saurav Ganguly's decision of batting first in the match was well supported by the Indian batsmen, as India got a good start in the first innings. The two Indian openers, Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar made a 49-run opening partnership for India and after Sehwag went out, Bangar continued to play well in the match. The other Indian batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Parthiv Patel gave adequate support to Bangar, by building some small but effective partnerships. While Tendulkar scored 36 runs, Ganguly, Laxman and Patel scored 29, 48 and 47 runs, respectively. However, the surprise contribution for India came from the premium pace bowler, Javagal Srinath, who scored 46 valuable runs in the lower order to help India score a good 358 runs in the first innings. Sanjay Bangar remained the top scorer with 77 runs.
While replying to India's 358 runs in the first innings the West Indies team too got a good start in their innings,. Their two openers, Chris Gayle and Wavell Hinds made a huge partnership of 172 runs in the opening partnership, till Hinds got out, just after reaching his century. India then got two quick successes, as Harbhajan Singh successfully removed Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marvin Dillon from the crease, within a short period. Kumble then got the wicket of Gayle, who scored 88 runs and West Indies was soon reduced to 5-255, when their captain Carl Hooper also got out. However, the two start batsmen for West Indies in the innings, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Marlon Samuels then made the partnership of the match. The scored 195 runs together in their partnership and both of them got their individual centuries. While Chanderpaul scored the highest 140 runs, Samuels scored 104 runs. However, as Harbhajan Singh excelled for India with the ball and took 5 wickets for 115 runs, the West Indies got all out for 497 runs in its first innings.
There was nothing much left in the match and the chance of getting a result was looking to be quite impossible, after both India and West Indies scored good totals in their respective first innings. India, playing with a deficit of 139 runs in the first innings, got a disastrous start in the second innings. India lost their first four wickets quickly and the scoreboard was reading 87-4, with Bangar, Sehwag, Dravid and Ganguly back into the pavilion. Then, the two legendary batsmen for India, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman made a great partnership of 212 runs. They took the team's total to 301 runs comfortably and in the course, both of them scored their individual centuries. Sachin became the highest scorer for India with 176 runs and Laxman played a good knock of 154 runs. As the Indian lower order batsmen also played well and remained not out till the end of the match, the match eventually ended in a draw. The Indian team scored a mammoth 471 runs in their second innings. Though, there was no result in the match, the historic match saw five batsmen from both the teams score centuries that is quite a rare scene in a Test match.
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