Plaudits for India on historic Test win, but not all is lost for England

Even in defeat, England captain Heather Knight could hardly hide her relish for India's bullet-like bowling. "We learned a lot from how India played in their first innings, how they found that right level between attack and defence and trying to put pressure back on the bowlers."

Having conquered India in its backyard in T20Is last week, Knight will get her next shot at that elusive victory in less than three months, when New Zealand's home series gets going in Dunedin on March 19. But following their one-off Test defeat to India in three days, there is plenty to do between now and then.

"(A) good lesson to our bowlers about how to bowl in these conditions. Obviously, with the spin, it was quite extreme. We learned a lot from how India played in their first innings, how they found that right level between attack and defence and tried to put pressure back on the bowlers. We learned a lot from that (and) tried to take it into today a little bit, but (the way) India bowled. They had an outstanding day and suited these conditions in how they executed their plans," Knight added.

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It is these abilities that England lacked. One reason for the difference between the teams is that India came off as a more stable and settled side. Led by Kaur, India was truly dominant throughout the Test, having set in motion the hunt for the coveted crown while declaring their second innings closed at the overnight score of 186 for 6, leaving England with a mountain to climb, requiring 479 runs in their second innings.

For the last three days, India barely displayed any rust of not having played Test cricket in two years, and a first at home after nine years, while being at their finest.

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But Kaur's India should credit the young Deepti Sharma more than anybody else, who was in her elements with a sensational five for seven in the first innings. And India, in return, did not have to wait for long for the first breakthrough that morning.

"It's a proud feeling... we bowled according to plan," Sharma told reporters, who was named player of the match. "I was just waiting to bowl and keeping myself warmed up. I got a lot of help from the wicket and I backed myself. The way they batted in the first innings is something we can learn a lot from. The conditions (are) something we're not used to, we were trying to find a way to score runs."

This was also India's largest victory by runs in women's Test cricket and also their first Test win over England at home in 15 Tests, handing them a huge boost ahead of the one-off Test against Australia. The one-off Test match made for a perfect outing for India given that all their debutants, namely Shubha Satheesh, Jemimah Rodrigues and Renuka Thakur, tasted enormous success, but there was a dampener in the form of Shubha missing the action on the second and the third day due to a fractured finger.

India can now point to the final score as justification for its tactics. Test cricket is no sprint, and it usually rewards teams that can grind out results. India will take on Australia, settled in personnel, full of confidence and lacking any fears of their formidability.