ENGLAND stood firm on the final day of the fourth Test in Nagpur to record their first Test series victory in India for 28 years.
Jonathan Trott (143) and Ian Bell (116) both hit centuries as England batted out the whole of the last day for an excellent 2-1 series win.
Hardly anyone expected England to come away from the subcontinent with that sort of result, particularly after their struggles against Pakistan and, to a lesser extent, Sri Lanka earlier in the year.
Indeed, the series began with a rather predictable nine-wicket India win, despite a gallant second innings effort by captain Alastair Cook (176) and Matt Prior (91).
The damage had already been done, however, as an unbeaten double century by 24-year-old Cheteshwar Pujara and 117 from Virender Sehwag helped India to 521-8 declared over the first two days.
When it came to England's turn, with the pressure on, the tourists sadly failed. Only Cook (41) and Prior (48) showed any of the required application in a total of 191 for an innings deficit of 330.
India enforced the follow-on and England responded with a better performance, though again the visitors' improvement was almost exclusively down to Cook and Prior. The pair remained unbeaten at the close of the fourth day and England began to sense a dramatic escape.
But that was dashed within an hour of the start of play on the fifth day as both departed and England lost their last five wickets for the addition just 50 runs.
India knocked off the required 77 runs for the loss of just one wicket, leading to another inquest in the England camp.
In the past, the England management has been far too stubborn to make changes to the balance of the side with an almost unshakable belief in continuity, borne out of not wishing to repeat the constant chopping and changing of the 1990s.
However, the line-up in the first Test was clearly wrong. India pitches almost always require two spinners, not just one - and that point was further evidenced by a quicks Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad bowling a combined 43 overs without success in the first innings.
Broad then got into a bit of a spat with Sir Ian Botham on Twitter, posting: "And before u listen to too many ex
playing 'experts' being negative, ask them if they ever won a Test
series in India....#28years."
Botham responded: "@StuartBroad8 Didn't average 40+ with the ball overseas...! Not sure
what I scored against India with the bat..? #justsaying."
It is fair to say that the tour had not begun well - but coach Andy Flower at least took corrective action this time, replacing Bresnan with a second spinner in Monty Panesar.
The results of the change were immediate right from the start of the second Test.
Despite losing the toss again, Panesar (5-129) and fellow spinner Swann (4-70) restricted the Indians to a total 327, 135 of which came from the bat of the indomitable Pujara.
Then, a third-wicket stand of 206 between Cook (122) and Kevin Pietersen (186) gave England the platform for an innings lead of 86.
Pietersen's big century was particularly pleasing after his turbulent summer in which he was close to falling out of the national set-up altogether.
And this was indeed the stylish KP which we know and love, his huge score including 20 fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 79.8.
For a second successive occasion, the first innings of the Test match had been the significant one. The tables being turned seemed to spook India, and the hosts collapsed to 142 all out in the third innings.
Pujara was out for just six and the great Sachin Tendulkar was still yet to make a score above 13 in the series as England's spin pair Panesar (6-81) and Swann (4-43) had another field day.
This time, it was left to England to reach a simple target of 57 which they did without loss before lunch on the fourth day.
Suddenly, having tweaked the team, England were right in thick of this series - and the tourists kept up the momentum in the third Test, despite a third successive lost toss.
India batted first again but, despite Tendulkar finding some form and hitting 76, the hosts lost their last six wickets for just 101 and were restricted to 316 all out.
Panesar produced another fine performance to take 4-90, and Cook was on form yet again with the bat to score 190 before being bizarrely run out for the first time in his First Class career.
No matter. By then, the 27-year-old Essex opener had already made history, becoming the youngest man in history to 7,000 Test runs, beating Tendulkar. Cook had also become England's most prolific centurion, with 23 now from his 87 appearances.
Time is on his side and, even with the responsibility of the captaincy on his shoulders, Cook's quality suggests many more records will eventually fall his way.
Back to the third Test, though, and Cook's efforts meant England had built a mammoth innings lead of 207, which - to disbelieving eyes - was perhaps even good enough for a mightily rare innings victory away in India.
With the wickets spread around in the second innings, that possibility looked really feasible as India slumped to 159-8, still 49 short of making England bat again.
However, some sensible batting by Ravichandran Ashwin - who finished 91 not out having cleverly rotated the strike with Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha - meant India took the Test into its final day.
It only took 10 balls of that final day for England to dismiss India for 247, and that left a target of 41.
Memories of the UAE in January, when Pakistan routed England for 72, came flooding back briefly, as the tourists dramatically fell to 8-3.
But new boy Nick Compton cemented his reputation as a grafter with nine not out from 40 balls, while Bell finally looked to have mastered the art of playing spin in his 28 not out.
England were 2-1 up with one to play and could not be beaten.
Cook's men had thus already overachieved, certainly as compared to my pre-series expectations when I was happy to give the new captain a free pass on this occasion.
But, having established a lead, captain Cook and his squad naturally wanted to finish the job of taking England into rarely-chartered territory.
Finally winning a toss, England batted first for the first time in the series. Unfortunately, they did not make their best job of it, though a pair of 73s from Pietersen and another new-boy Joe Root were enough to take England from an uncertain 139-4 to a respectable 330 all out.
India's reply was remarkably similar, and Tendulkar was out for just two as the hosts slumped to 71-4.
Again, there was a recovery, though, as Virat Kohli and captain MS Dhoni put on 198 for the fifth wicket.
But, once Kohli departed for 103, there was another clatter of home wickets, including that of Dhoni who became only the 15th man in history to be run out on 99.
More vitally for India, the first two innings of the match had taken mountains of time out of the game.
Indeed, the situation of the match on the morning of the fourth day resulted in some of the strangest, and sadly most soporific, displays of Test cricket in recent years.
The awfully attritional pitch had produced one of the slowest scoring rates in recent Test history and it was a surprise to see India persist with it on the fourth morning when they really needed to be moving the game on.
England did not even seem to be that interested in taking any wickets, well aware that bowling tight and keeping the scoring slow was good enough for a draw. Altogether, 25 of the 83 overs bowled by Swann and Panesar were maidens.
Eventually, after one of the most pointless hours of Test cricket imaginable, India declared four runs behind, and the pressure had been transferred back to England.
With no real innings lead to speak of, England simply could not afford to collapse cheaply in subcontinental conditions yet again. They still needed to bat four sessions.
Thankfully, after some painful lessons earlier in the year, they seem to have learnt.
At 94-3, it was not clear whether they actually had, but Trott and Bell steered the tourists to 161-3 by the close.
The pair then picked up where they had left off on the final day in which India only had one more success.
Trott was dismissed by Ashwin but not before he had made 143 runs and secured England this historic series victory.
As a whole, England have had plenty of ups and downs in 2012, their most difficult year for some time.
But, while the past 12 months has seen the departure of a captain in Andrew Strauss, and other easily more preventable low-points, the fixture calendar has also been tough and sent England to Asia no fewer than three times.
Lessons finally seem to have to been learnt, even as far up as at management level in the national set-up.
Continuity is all fine and well in general, and certainly preferable to the never-ending conveyor belt of one-Test wonders which England selected in the dark days of the 1990s.
However, it should be remembered more often that England now have a really decent squad of both bowlers and batsmen, and that sometimes a slight tinker with the line-up can pay dividends.
Cook, with 562 runs at an average of 80.28, was undoubtedly the man of the series - but the introduction of Panesar after the first Test cannot be underestimated.
This was meant to be the series in which India gained revenge for their humiliating 4-0 defeat on English soil in the summer of 2011.
Instead, England - under a new direction - have left with their reputation on the subcontinent somewhat restored, and the inner belief that they can win literally anywhere in the world.
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