Stormont Cricket Ground in Belfast is a stunning throwback to an amateur era. With wooden stands and vast open lands around, it looks more like a countrified field than a modern cricketing venue. And it was there that the Indians had begun their march to glory.

They had scripted a superb comeback to win the three-match one-day series against a strong South African side in Belfast on their first leg of the trip. A few might have given chances to them to do well in the Test series against England as well.

The first Test at Lord's had not given any indications that the summer would belong to India. The visitors, helped immensely by weather, escaped with a draw, but that only seemed to spur them.

In the second Test at Nottingham, the Indians pegged back the home side to go 1-0 in the series, with Zaheer Khan leading the charge with a five-wicket haul. The final Test at the Brit Oval ended in a draw, and Anil Kumble smashed his maiden Test hundred. It was also the lone hundred scored by an Indian in the entire series.

Follow-on argument
There were a number of arguments over skipper Rahul Dravid's decision to not to enforce the follow-on in the third Test, but the wranglers failed to grasp the greatness of the occasion and they had forgotten that India had won a Test series in England after 21 years.

But the rickety beginning to the one-day series somewhat doused the enthusiasm of the Test win and it took a tremendous effort from the Indians to level the seven-match series 3-3, winning back to back matches at Leeds and at The Oval. But they stumbled in the decider at Lord's as England deservingly bagged the one-day series.
The most abiding memory of the limited-overs series was the batting of Sachin Tendulkar and the alliances he forged at the top of the tree with Sourav Ganguly. The veteran duo put on 113 at Bristol, 116 at Leeds and 150 at The Oval, and without a doublt, India won those matches.

Key partnerships
It was not a coincidence, but it revealed the importance of Tendulkar-Ganguly partnership at the top. But it was the batting of the Mumbaikar that needs special mention. He played with the kind of freedom that many thought Tendulkar would never be able to do after a plethora of injuries.

There were those breathtaking drives on the up, audacious pulls and those patented cheeky taps to fine-leg as Tendulkar shone brightly throughout the series. It was indeed a privilege to watch the maestro in action in the one-day matches.

The champion batsman, however, failed to end what could probably be his last visit to England with a hundred as he was dismissed four times in the 90s in the series. Dravid and Ganguly — though sparkled on a number of occasions — too did not get a hundred against their names on this tour, and it is unlikely that they will return to this part of the world again.

"The resilience and intensity the team had shown, not just during the England leg, but over a period of 80 days or so, has been pleasing to me. They showed a lot of character in many difficult situations and it has been a learning curve for them also," Dravid said while summing up the sojourn.

But India's fielding and bowling raised more than one eyebrow in the one-day series and the errors in the fielding department were glaring
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Poor fielding
The Indian fielders struggled to get the throw to the wicketkeeper from the deep and their efforts were pedestrian compared to that of the hosts. Dropped catches and horrid fielding were the feature of the Indian fielding, and in the end those blunders had cost India nearly 35-40 runs in almost all the games. The fielding standards went up as the matches progressed, but still there are areas that can be improved upon.
With seven one-dayers against Australia and five against Pakistan coming up in the immediate future, urgent steps needed to be taken in this regard.

Bowling, which was sharp in the Test series, lost its edge a bit in the one-day series, perhaps owing to the lengthy schedule of the tour. The only bright part was the performance of the spin duo of Ramesh Powar and Piyush Chawla, as they caused numerous problems to the English batsmen.

The disturbing factor was that the Indian pace attack looked so hackneyed when Zaheer was absent upfront, and Munaf Patel and Ajit Agarkar — perceived to be one-day specialists — could not be called as a success in the limited-overs series. India will have to find a solution for that before the next round of matches come their way.
The minor hiccups apart, India showed they are no longer the timid travellers and that is the biggest achievement of this tour.