India win equal to Ashes - Cook

England captain Alastair Cook says he thinks the first series win in India in 27 years is "on a par with the Ashes".

Centuries from Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell secured a draw in the fourth Test in Nagpur and a 2-1 win in the series.

Cook said the 2010-11 Ashes victory, England's first down under in 24 years, "meant a huge amount", but he added: "I think this is on a par with it.

Cook delights in 'special' victory

"In that dressing room, knowing what we had achieved, it was a special place and will live long in my memory."

England's success was all the more impressive given their terrible start to the series. A nine-wicket thrashing in the opening Test led to gloomy forecasts of a 4-0 series whitewash.

"Of course there was doubt," said Cook, 27, who was named man of the series after scoring three hundreds and 562 runs in the four-match series. "There is always doubt, especially halfway through day two [of the first Test] when we were getting rolled.

"I was surprised at the level we managed to achieve so soon after Ahmedabad. I was talking [there] about playing to our potential, but I was surprised we managed to do it straight away and put all those doubts to bed and prove it to ourselves."

He added: "We didn't handle the Ahmedabad wicket well but the others were all very different and we adapted well. The bowlers have been brilliant and our batters have contributed big runs.

"There were handshakes, hugs, embraces and slaps on the back all around in the England dressing room. They have worked so hard in this series. What odds were there on us witnessing that? It's quite remarkable. They have done it the hard way, through outstanding leadership on and off the pitch."

"Everyone in the squad can be very proud, especially after Ahmedabad and that heavy defeat. The guys who played a couple of games all made a difference and the amount of effort the guys have put in for me, I can't ask any more.

One of the "guys" who was drafted into the side was Monty Panesar, and the Sussex-man took 17 wickets in the final three Tests  as he dovetailed to devastating effect with fellow spinner Graeme Swann.

"Clearly we got it wrong in Ahmedabad in not playing Monty, but when we put it right he has been outstanding," Cook admitted.

"What was it, 50 overs for 80 yesterday? He's a captain's dream. You just throw him the ball and you know he's going to be there or thereabouts."

James Anderson, who was awarded the man of the match award after taking 4-81 in India's first innings, was described as the difference between the two sides by India captain Mahendra Dhoni.

The 30-year-old fast bowler took 12 wickets in the series and played a key part in England's success, alongside the spinners who normally prosper on the sub-continent.

1984-85: India 1-2 England (5 Tests)

1992-93: India 3-0 England (3 Tests)

2001-02: India 1-0 England (3 Tests)

2005-06: India 1-1 England (3 Tests)

2008-09: India 1-0 England (2 Tests)

2012: India 1-2 England (4 Tests)

"When we come over here, people think that spinners are going to get all the wickets but we knew that the seamers had a job to do," Anderson said.

"I've bowled better than I have before. Reverse-swing has been a key part of us doing well.

"We've really practised it in the nets and in the games leading up to the series. I think we executed our plans really well."

Listen to match highlights and Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott's analysis of the day's play on the Test Match Special podcast.

We are using archive pictures for this Test because several photo agencies, including Getty Images, have been barred from the ground following a dispute with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, while other agencies have withdrawn their photographers in protest.

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England eclipse Ashes - Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan says the current side's Test series win in India is bigger than the 2010-2011 Ashes series victory in Australia.

England won in India for the first time since 1985 after they came back from 1-0 down to claim a 2-1 series victory.

"To beat an Indian side on home soil is huge," Vaughan told BBC Radio 5 live.

"To beat that side in Australia was great. England have wanted to do that for many years but this is a bigger cricketing achievement."

Matches: 87 Innings: 154 Not outs: 10 Runs: 7,117 Highest score: 294 Average: 49.42 Hundreds: 23 Fifties: 29 He added: "[Captain] Alastair Cook is very modest but he has led England to probably their biggest achievement in many, many years."

Vaughan highlighted opening batsman Cook's form and captaincy as the key to England winning against an Indian side he believes has lost its appetite for Test cricket.

"The achievement is huge and I hope they get all the credit," said Vaughan, who feared a 4-0 whitewash after the tourists lost the opening match.

"England arrived in India not in great form. Then in Ahmedabad they are bowled out for 191 in the first innings of the first Test and you think 'how do you turn it around?' - it was because of Alastair Cook.

"I always say at the end of a series if you could have won without the captain then he is not a massive player within the team.

"This series there is no way England would have won without Alastair Cook, he has had that big a role. You can already see in the four games he has captained that his stamp is on the team. It is going to be a very professional unit in the next few years."

Vaughan also praised the exploits of Jimmy Anderson, 30, as he compared the pace bowler to former Australian great Glenn McGrath, the world's most successful fast bowler with 563 Test wickets.

"It's the first time I have actually watched and really felt that [Indian batsman] Sachin Tendulkar feared a bowler," said Vaughan.

“"Had I been the chairman of selectors, I would have picked Dhoni as a wicketkeeper-batsman, but it is time to look beyond him as a Test captain."”

Former India selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth "You could see it in Sachin's eyes. Every time Jimmy had the ball, he didn't have a clue. He didn't know whether it was coming in, going out, does he go forward or back? Should he try to attack him?

"Jimmy has got that look in his eye now that Glenn McGrath used to have. He looks at the batsman to kind of say that you are not very good. He just takes the confidence away from the batsman.

"McGrath used to do it to all the England batsman. It is just this horrible kind of arrogant glare. I don't think they know they are doing it but Jimmy has it, that control and swagger when he gets the ball in his hand that just makes the opposition fear.

"England have just got to look after him because if they can for the next two or three years he is going to break all the bowling records and he will fully deserve to do that."

There have been calls for India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to be replaced after a first Test series defeat at home since losing to Australia in 2004.

"This Indian side for so long have not been playing great in test cricket," said Vaughan. "It has been since the [Twenty20] Indian Premier League has come about. They have lost their buzz and energy for Test cricket, you can clearly see that.

"I was watching the Indians, particularly in the field, and I saw the sure sign of a team that looked like it didn't want to be out there when it got tough."

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