Australia reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after a 2-1 Test series win in India.
But in assessing it all, they would've known they've come as near as many teams could only dream of coming to beat India in India in a Test series.
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That is where the team's then fast bowler Jason Gillespie said that they took their lessons from bowling to the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar in these unhelpful conditions and revisited their plans used three years earlier to achieve the ultimate glory in 2004.
Under Adam Gilchrist's captaincy, Australia reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1, with the visitors' fast-bowling trio of Glenn McGrath, Michael Kasprowicz and Gillespie himself playing crucial roles against a side that historically and even in that series played Shane Warne reasonably well.
"As a bowling group, we sat down and worked out how we're going to (make an) impact for the team in Indian conditions," Gillespie said in a chat show 'Homerun with AV' with sports commentator Arun Venugopal on his YouTube channel Gethist Creative.
"If we stick to bowling the Australian line and length, which is that fourth-stump line and encourage the Indian batsmen to hit through the off side, which is what we were trying to do in 2001, we're taking bowled and lbws out of play. But we are also conscious that by attacking the stumps more, we were playing to the Indian batsmen's strengths," he added.
In 2001, after the innings defeat in Mumbai and the first innings at the Eden Gardens, Indian batsmen didn't look in as much discomfort against Australian pacers, as they were operating from the line they bowled in more familiar conditions, the line outside the off-stump.
In India, you have to adjust your line, look to hit the stumps and try and create more LBW chances. Against wristy Indian batsmen, this hasn't been an easy ploy to execute, but the Aussies made it possible by strengthing the leg-side field and making them force the issue through the off.
"A lot of Indian batsmen are very wristy and play really well through the leg side. So, you think guys like Laxman, (Rahul) Dravid and (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Virender) Sehwag…when the ball is on the stumps, they can hit the ball anywhere from straight past the bowler to square leg just by the use of their hands, very skillful players," said Gillespie.
"We felt if you put an extra fielder or two on the leg side in catching positions and another defensive position on the fence, you encourage the Indian batsmen to run more between the wickets rather than get those easy boundaries."
"So, we wanted to test their fitness and we just felt that if we kept charging in and attacking the stumps, eventually the Indian batters might miss one or two of those, and we can get an lbw or a bowled and that's what happened," he added.
"It was good planning and we implemented those plans well. It was myself, McGrath and Kasprowicz as the seamer and Shane Warne as the spinner on that tour and Michael Clarke bowling some left-arm spin. It was a wonderful experience. It was great that we had a plan and it proved successful."
(Inputs from TOI)