Play abandoned on day five

The story of the final day of the India-England series is told in one word: Rain.

Overnight rain, that made a mess of the outfield, and a sustained drizzle, that ensured that all efforts to dry the turf up were defeated.

India, thus, won the series 1-0 -- a victory that was, in real terms, a defeat. The last time England were here -- with a far stronger team than the one led by Nasser Hussain -- the result was a 3-0 sweep. Here, against an England team shorn of most of its top stars, India's much-vaunted batting lineup failed to make any impact on the drawn Ahmedabad Test and, to add insult to that injury, had the rain to thank for being let off the losing hook in Bangalore.

Has India, which hasn't won a series abroad in 16 years, also forgotten to win at home? And this, despite the presence of a full-strength team, thanks to the return of Anil Kumble?

The year, you will recall, began with a stunning series win against Australia. And in the process, a Very Very Special Laxman came along to join Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and make up what hypemeisters with a view to the catchy headline dubbed The Fab Four.

That was in March-April. Eight months later, again on home ground and with the backing of two openers who proved able to give the side starts, Rahul Dravid scored 112 in four innings; VVS Laxman 115 in three and skipper Saurav Ganguly 68 in four -- a combined total of 295, for 11 frontline wickets.

The performance underlined something that has been true for over a decade now -- India's batting is Sachin Tendulkar (307 in four innings, this despite England's cynical use of negative lines and leg-theory bowling). Period. And a one-man batting lineup cannot, will not, win with any consistency.

It was a series in which everything went to pieces -- the batting, the bowling, the fielding and the captaincy. Against that, England came here with two raw seam bowlers one of whom had not managed a first XI placing while the other was flown in as a desperate measure, one raw off spinner, one debutant keeper, and one ageing left arm spinner coming back from England. England lacked lead seamers Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough, wicket-keeper batsman Alec Stewart and, for the second and third Tests, its premier batsman Graham Thorpe.

Calling Nasser Hussain's squad a county eleven would be complimentary. And yet, after the defeat in the first Test, that team out-thought, and out-fought, India over five days in Motera, and for the entire duration of the Bangalore Test, what there was of it in between the rain interruptions.

It is in this context that the 1-0 result has to be seen as a defeat of monumental proportions.

Final Scoreboard

England's tour of India : Complete coverage