I've done it: Sachin Tendulkar celebrates both his century and the winning runs
PAUL NEWMAN reports from Chennai
They came within tantalising reach of what would have been one of their greatest modern triumphs but when England look back on where they went wrong here they will have to accept that they blew it.
To criticise England after the first Test of this special series had ended in such a perfect, poignant and emotional manner would be churlish in the extreme.
Yet for all the mitigating circumstances in this unique situation they will know that India should never have been allowed to complete a record breaking chase with more than 20 overs to spare.
What started to go wrong for England when they allowed their second innings to drift was accelerated in the most spectacular way by Virender Sehwag and then completed on Monday by one of the greatest batsmen the game has known.
Gilt edged chances to win in India come along only rarely, as Australia well know, and England will rue the fact that they let Sachin Tendulkar write one of the most incredible chapters in even his illustrious history.
None more so than Monty Panesar. This was a situation that should have been made for him. This, on a fifth day Indian pitch offering extravagant bounce and turn, was where he had to show that Shane Warne was wrong when he said that Monty had played the same Test 34 times rather than played in 34 Tests. Panesar failed dismally.
For a senior spinner to bowl 27 overs in the second innings with India needing a huge 387 to win, admittedly with no preparation and against 'The Little Master', and fail to take a solitary wicket was worrying for Monty's legion of followers.
He could not even contain, going for 105 runs and struggling for any sort of consistency, let alone guile.
Take that: Tendulkar hammers the ball past Ian Bell
It is not the first time in the last few months that Panesar has failed to fulfil the spinner's principal task of bowling a team out in the final innings.
Both at Lord's and famously at Egdbaston last summer against South Africa, Panesar was unable to produce the goods when it most mattered and he ended up here looking dazed and confused in the outfield, still clapping encouragement to his team-mates but appearing devoid of all confidence and know-how.
It was ironic that Panesar should be reduced to bowling over the wicket into the rough at Tendulkar in a desperate attempt to contain him for it was those very tactics with which Ashley Giles succeeded in frustrating and then dismissing Tendulkar at Bangalore in 2001.
Giles was famously deemed to be inferior to Panesar in the row over the merits of the pair during the last Ashes series and was here on Monday in his role as an England selector. If it was his idea for Monty to try to replicate him then it was one doomed to failure.
Monty misery: Panesar sees another delivery race to the boundary
This was also a chastening experience for Steve Harmison and Jimmy Anderson, so expensive against Sehwag that they were quickly banished from England's attack on the fourth day.
Kevin Pietersen clearly had such little faith in his spearhead that he did not introduce Harmison until the 34th over of the final day, and while he was better he still provided minimal threat to the Indian batsmen.
Above all this was a difficult day for Pietersen who struggled to get his field placings right, failed to get inside Panesar's head and then revealed that he has a fractured rib. What a contrast these past few weeks have been for Pietersen since the halcyon days of his early matches in charge last summer.
His inexperience as a leader was clearly evident in the way Tendulkar manipulated his field and milked single after single to stop Pietersen gaining any semblance of control.
It can only be hoped that England's fledgling captain and the spinner who admitted to Sportsmail before this match that he must become more tactically aware learn the lessons of Chennai quickly.
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