Who has made the highest individual score in an India-West Indies Test?
(14 May 2002)

For a man who began his career as a wicket-keeper batsman, Rohan Kanhai's batting achievements are remarkable. At the end of his 79- Test career, he had made 6,227 runs at 47.53. More importantly, he had made a name for himself as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

A batsman who possessed all shots in the book, and also a few of his own, Kanhai's transformation into one of the greats began in the land of his ancestors - India. The famed Eden Gardens at Kolkata was to see Kanhai make the most of his promotion to number three in the third Test of his team's 1958-59 series against a Ghulam Ahmed-led Indian team.

Kanhai's previous 12 Tests had not yielded any hundreds, and the 23- year-old was determined to set that record straight when he took guard early on the first morning. What followed was a glorious exhibition of batsmanship for the next six-and-a-half hours.

After making his maiden Test hundred, Kanhai went on make 256 before falling to medium-pacer Surendaranath. Basil Butcher and the great Garry Sobers also made hundreds in the Test, which the West Indies went on to win by an innings and 336 runs. Kanhai, whose 256 also happened to be the highest individual score recorded in India at that point of time, was the toast of cricket-loving Calcutta.