The glorious series win that India achieved over England has more implications to it than the historical importance of grabbing a Test series in the Old Blighty after 21 years.

After their premature exit from the World Cup earlier this year, it was imperative that India and skipper Rahul Dravid deliver something big, something that catches the attention of fans. The away-series against England was the perfect stage, but there was lingering doubts over the team's ability to excel in English conditions.

The Indians, though, wiped away the doubts with a superb performance with bat and ball over a glorious fortnight or so.

"Cricket is special in India, I'm sure they'll be celebrating back home as well. As Indian players, we do understand we bring a lot of joy to a lot of people, we are aware of this responsibility and it's nice to know there'll be so many young kids in towns and villages who'll be smiling, and who'll be taking out a cricket bat and ball and just enjoying the moment with us," said Dravid after the final Test ended in a draw.

That is precisely the impact of this series win; they revived the sagging stock of cricket in India and proved they are capable of winning matches and series away from the comfort zone of home pitches and conditions.

The other positive to emerge from this series is the lion-hearted performances of the bowlers, who thrived in English conditions that favoured swing bowling and largely walked ahead of their more talked about batting colleagues. England's strategy of preparing pitches conducive to pacers in a way backfired as India had better-equipped bowlers with them.

England bowling attack, comprising James Anderson, Chris Tremlett and Ryan Sidebottom, had given a stout-hearted performance but experience and luck — not necessarily in that order — was not on their side.

Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh — though both are left-arm pacemen that at first glance curb the variety factor — came up with a brilliant strategy of bowling from around the wicket. That move gave them opportunities to use the crease better and generate different angles that tormented the English batsmen throughout the series.

None of the English batsmen were comfortable against the deliveries that were angled into them from around the wicket at a lively pace. R P Singh's dismissals of Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior — leg before and clean-bowled respectively — were classic examples of the studious planning behind the Indian bowling effort.

"It's something that's been done before, but it has been executed well. We've not come up with something totally new, but it's not an easy thing to execute, and that's been the key. Credit goes to the bowlers and the bowling coach for working as a unit after that first day when we fumbled a bit at Lord's. They came up with it, and said why not have a go. It worked as RP got Vaughan at Lord's and I said fine, we've got a wicket here, so let's keep doing that. In the nets, we looked at some of the angles as well. It's just something that evolved with conversations as most tactics do," Dravid said.

"It's simple — if you want to win Test series abroad, your bowling attack must do the job for you. And they did it for us," he added.

The series also witnessed the development of Zaheer as the leading bowler in the truest sense of the term. There was a question mark over his fitness before the tour, but he silenced the doubting Thomases with a gritty performance, bowling over after over without ever showing any signals of breakdown, bagging 18 wickets in the series.

He guided and supported the young pace bowlers RP Singh and S Sreesanth to the hilt, reducing a lot of burden on Anil Kumble, who also contributed, bagging some crucial wickets in the series besides notching up a wonderful maiden Test hundred, the only one by an Indian in the series.

Coming back to Zaheer, he has finally progressed into the role of an elder statesman and Dravid did not hide his delight over the fact either.

"He came in as a young bowler with a lot of potential, he lost his way in the middle, and he has gone back to the basics. Over the last couple of years, Zaheer has bowled and bowled and bowled. It should be talked about so young bowlers in India can realise from an example of someone who went and did the hard yards. He is a great role model." 

The only bowler who looked off the boil was Sreesanth. The Kerala paceman, perceived to be the spearhead of the Indian attack before the tour, perhaps succumbed to the weight of expectations on him. He struggled for rhythm and line throughout the series and on many occasions, appeared trying too many things and that made his life all the more miserable. The shoulder-barging of England skipper Michael Vaughan in the second Test at Trent Bridge too did not go down well with the authorities. But Dravid backed him to come back as a stronger bowler.

"I think Sree performed very well in the series. I just told him his performance must speak for itself. I think he bowled superbly in the second innings of the third Test. His lines, areas and control of swing were very good and hopefully he will be back as a stronger bowler," he said.

The Indian batsmen, for once, were overshadowed by bowlers, but they too had their moments like in the explosive batting performance in the third Test at the Oval that ensured a no-way-out situation for England.
This win does not make the Indians a bunch of all-conquering globetrotters overnight, but signs definitely indicate that they can well go on to become one.