England's candle in the wind was extinguished half an hour into the fifth day. Anil Kumble saw a patch of Kotla brown on a length and speared one in. It bucked and fizzed and Nasser Hussain's attempt at a fend flew off the glove to Virender Sehwag. His podgy figure might not get him an audition for Swan Lake, but the dive that saw him come up with the ball must have seemed more beautiful than a Margot Fonteyn pirouette to Sourav Ganguly. Kumble was to the fore again minutes later with a ripped legbreak that shot off the edge of Alec Stewart's bat to first slip. On a ground where the great Shane Warne averages a less-than-mighty 89, Kumble bowled as well as he ever has on a foreign field. In a part of the world where the people pride themselves on their tenacity, he was the relentless tyke nipping away at batsmen's ankles till they gave up the ghost and jumped the fence.

But it shouldn't be forgotten though that this match was won on the opening day, by the stonewalling bats of Rahul Dravid and Sanjay Bangar. The heavy artillery and the cavalry arrived in the shape of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly on Day Two, but it was the men who copped the blows on wrists and fingers that deserve all the credit – after all, it's a much less arduous task to skin a snake once the fangs have been removed.

Thereafter, it was like watching a highlights package from the England tour of India in 1992-3. At Chennai and Mumbai, India piled up huge first-innings scores (560 for 6 declared and 591) before bowling out England for innings victories. The resistance then came from Graeme Hick. This time, it was Hussain and Stewart. But as was the case almost a decade ago, it was nowhere near enough.

India's victory here in 1986 had been built on the foundation of an unforgettable innings from Dilip Vengsarkar. In conditions that had the seamers struggling to keep the drool in check, he was the boy on the burning deck – defending with pugnacity and cover-driving with panache when the opportunity presented itself. It was a something-from-nothing innings, a career-defining one, and years from now, we will view Dravid's 148 in the same way.

The shallow, glory-hunting supporter will only harp on about Tendulkar and Bradman for weeks, but the genuine fanatic – the word itself indicates a level of commitment far beyond the comprehension of glory-hunters – will cherish the performances of Dravid and Kumble more. Everymen you would pass with barely a nod while walking down the street, but their deeds over five days at Headingley have ensured that India go to The Oval with that chimera of a series win ever closer to becoming reality.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd