England coach Duncan Fletcher has described his undermanned team's effort to tie the three-Test series with India as comparable to last year's Ashes triumph.
England's tour of India was filled with misfortune with several of its Ashes heroes unavailable due to a combination of injury and personal commitments.
Ashes heroes Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles all missed the entire series, while Alastair Cook, who made a century on debut in the first Test, and paceman Steve Harmison missed the final match in Mumbai.
But despite all that, England, led by all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who was named man of the series, squared the series 1-1 with an emphatic 212-run victory in the third Test.
"It's a huge, huge achievement. It's close to that Ashes win," coach Duncan Fletcher told BBC Sport.
"To draw 1-1 with India on any occasion would have been great. To have won in India would have been as good as beating Australia in England."
"But it's right up there. With four, five of six guys missing it's a tremendous achievement."
Flintoff praised his team for the character they showed during the tough tour.
"To come to India and draw 1-1 with such a formidable side was a great effort for our lads," he said.
"Early on in the tour things were quite tough. The lads who came in and made debuts, with not much experience, have taken the bull by the horns."
Meanwhile, Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was left lamenting his team's catastrophic collapse, which saw it lose 7-25 in less than 15 overs.
"We achieved our first target of getting to lunch without losing too many wickets and needed to bat to tea without losing wickets," Dravid said.
"Wickets in hand would have given us a chance like in Nagpur but we lost two wickets straight after lunch.
"That put a lot of pressure on us and we played some bad shots."
