#OTD in 2002: India won their first-ever ODI series in West Indies

On this day in 2002, India won the final ODI fixture by 56 runs to beat West Indies 2-1 in the five-match series. They registered their first-ever ODI series victory in the West Indies in this pursuit.

In the last three tours in 1982/83, 1988/89, and 1996/97, India were beaten by 2-1, 5-0, and 3-1, respectively. 

The first two fixtures were abandoned due to rain. Then the third match was won by India after chasing 177, and the subsequent one saw the home team winning by seven wickets. 

India opted to bat first and were off to a fine start with delightful shots from Virender Sehwag all around the park to steer the team. But, the ninth over saw him getting dismissed for 32 in the silly mid-on position.

Coming at number three, Dinesh Mongia was good support to Sourav Ganguly. The duo attacked in a fine fashion, to accelerate the run-rate.

In the 21st over, Mongia charged on to Colly Collymore and survived a tough catching opportunity, as the boundary sailed the team to go past the score of 100. However, a couple of balls later, Collymore was intelligent with his slower ball, as Mongia (28) got holed out in the square leg.

Ganguly completed his fifty off 73 balls. However, Dada and Rahul Dravid (20) were also holed out in the same fashion as Sehwag in the 29th over and 38th over.

Yuvraj Singh (10) and Mohammad Kaif (17) batted alongside Sachin Tendulkar (65) to help the team in posting a score of 260.

The home team lost their openers in the first four overs, Wavell Hinds (2) and Chris Gayle (3). However, the experienced batters Ramnaresh Sarwan and Brian Lara were impressive in recovering the team from trouble and keeping the scoreboard ticking.

The off-spinner Harbhajan Singh provided the breakthrough in the form of Sarwan (32) in the 20th over. Soon, captain Carl Hooper (1) mistimed a pull shot off Ajit Agarkar and was caught by Sehwag at mid-off.

Lara (36) was holed out to deep square leg boundary off a friendly full toss of Tendulkar, and West Indies were reeling at 88/5 in the 24th over. After that, the duo of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and wicket-keeper Ridley Jacobs set their eyes and consistently hit boundaries.

Harbhajan broke this partnership of 71 runs by taking the wicket of Chanderpaul (51) in the 33rd over. However, the tail-enders could not contribute, as they were dismissed on a score of 191.

Tendulkar was named 'Player of the Match', and Ganguly was awarded the 'Player of the Series'.