However, what followed first at Nottingham and then again in London, at The Brit Oval, was nothing short of a comprehensive beating of a very good team, on its home turf.

It is true that England did not have its talismanic all rounder Andrew Flintoff available, and that it also missed Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison. But, the replacements, James Anderson and Chris Tremlett were every bit as effective. The only player they truly missed was Flintoff. But one should remember that, while Flintoff has improved out of sight since India last played against him in England in 2002, he was out played by Ajit Agarkar last time. So there is no guarantee that he would have made that much of a difference.

Anyway the bottom line is that after their fortuitous escape at Lords, India went from strength to strength. The much maligned middle order and the inexperienced openers handled the continuously swinging ball (it never really stopped swinging at any time in the series) superbly. But the helpful conditions meant that no batsman was ever really set, and one good ball could end their innings at anytime. The fact that only one Indian, Anil Kumble, as gritty as they come with the bat, managed a three figure knock, while India yet managed scores of 500 and 600 plus in back to back games, indicates that the batting unit, finally was batting as a unit. The huge number of partnerships of 50+ indicated that India’s batting had started to gel, and even the failure of their best batsman overseas this decade, Rahul Dravid, did not matter.

Often, in the past, when the batting has clicked the bowling has let India down. But on this tour, the positive influence of Venkatesh Prasad as bowling coach, and Zaheer Khan as bowling unit leader, with the backing of the canny veteran Kumble, ensured that the bowlers bowled as a unit as well.

The performance of India, without the presence of a high profile foreign coach, matched anything it has achieved in the past. This also highlighted the fact that the Core of the team was once again strong. Further proof of the fact that contributions came from every quarter was that India played an unchanged eleven in all three Tests.

The previous coach, Greg Chappell was much maligned, and rightly so, for his constant experimenting, chopping and changing. His tendency to create insecurity and fear in the dressing room with his constant feeding of the media with tidbits best left in the dressing room, further soured the trust and loyalty that existed in the team before his arrival. In an earlier piece, this writer had written that one of the reasons teams routinely collapse in a heap when faced with tough situations and grimly determined opponents is that they have stopped trusting each other, and being there for each other. In an atmosphere of constant chopping and changing, where fear and insecurity dominate, every person is playing basically for himself. In such an atmosphere nobody is willing to put their hand up when the rest of the side is unable or in their mind unwilling to do so. This series win was the complete and total antithesis of that in every sense. Players were playing for each other, building partnerships, and ensuring that the whole was greater than merely the sum of the parts. It was truly “All for one, and one for all”

The significance of this win should not be underestimated and also should not be misunderstood. Many cricket pundits have pointed out that the importance of this series win was that India won a series in England for the first time in 21 years. As if that was some great embarrassment for them, and they are hugely relieved it is no longer the case. But that is not the real reason why this win was so significant. After all England has not won a series in India for 23 years and counting and Australia went without a series win in India for nearly 35 years, New Zealand and Sri Lanka have never won a Test series in India. So what those numbers just point out is the fact that home turf advantage in cricket is not only real, but very pronounced. And India is not the only team to do better at home than abroad.

The real significance of the win is that after this series win, Indian cricket has shed once and for all its reputation, which may have been justified pre 2000, but which is nothing but a myth in this decade, that they are tigers at home and pussycats abroad. India has the second best Test record this decade, behind the awesome Australians, and is the only team besides the Australians to have a winning record both at home and abroad.

This one fact is what Indian fans, who often are willing to assume the worst about their own team and the best about other teams, should keep in mind. India has just beaten England in England, something that even the Australians were not able to do last time they visited England. And it should be no longer disputable that India can win Test series anytime and anywhere. This is the true significance of India’s victory.

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