THE third and final Test drifted to its predictable end yesterday evening when Mark Ealham took his fourth wicket in the space of 17 balls to mop up the tired remnants of the Indian innings.
They had made 211, a lead of 168 - Rathore was unable to bat because of the dislocated shoulder he sustained in the field con Monday. England did not even make their second innings but it means they take the series thanks to their solitary win at Edgbaston and so register their fourth home series win and only their fifth in all since Mike Gatting's Ashes win a decade ago.
It is slow progress but things appear to be moving forwards. Well as India played at times, however, England are aware that the Pakistanis, with their scintillating all-round skills and consistency, should provide a more searching test over the second half of the summer.
Given that they suffered from a lethal combination of hypothermia, internal strife and injury at the start of the tour, India ultimately proved attractive and competitive opponents, and England will be relieved that their resurgence, which began at Lord's, was not accompanied by a decent share of the luck.
India will return home heartened by the progress made by younger players - Sourav Ganguly, loaded down with champagne bottles after receiving awards both for man of the match and India's man of the series, Rahul Dravid and Venkatesh Prasad.
They will also be pleased by the impact made by Javagai Srinath, a pace bowler of genuine world class, and of course Sachin Tendulkar, a batsman of genius and heir apparent to Mohammad Azharuddin whose last Test as captain this may have been.
England also have a clearer idea of the direction in which they are moving. The eager return of Chris Lewis has given some bite to the bowling, Alan Mullally had pace (although for the rest of the summer he will stand comparison with Wasim Akram) and Ealham, an enthusiastic batter and a willing bowler not to be underestimated, can be more than satisfied with his debut that brought a half century and 4-21 from 14 overs yesterday.
The big bonus came with Nasser Hussain who has occupied the number three position with distinction and maturity, scoring two centuries. and was an unrivalled candidate for England's man of the series.
Against that, there is the worrying form of Graeme Hick, who when the teams last met, finished top of the averages, but who finished bottom of them here. He is, facing stiff competition now from the likes of John Crawley.
The problem of spin bowling, which Ray Illingworth said yesterday was at a low ebb in domestic cricket, remains no nearer solution.
England began yesterday 29 runs ahead with effectively two wickets in hand, and whatever happened to the rest of the innings, the slender possibility remained that an Indian batting order deprived of Rathore, and possibly Azharrudin, could crumble.
Unfortunately it did not pan out like that, for after England had extended their lead by just 14 more runs and then Sanjay Manjrekar had turned his back on Lewis's bouncer, unwittingly gloving the ball to gully, Naian Mongia got his head down for three hours and made 45.
With him, Ganguly played beautifully once more for over two hours, driving elegantly, and clambering gluttonously into Patel's innocuous spin until the glint of an unprecedented third successive century in his first three Test innings lit up in his eyes.
Misfortune took a hand, however, and he had made 48, with eight fours, when he played Cork down and back on to his stumps. The second wicket had added 86 though, putting India firmly into credit while using valuable time.
