It's nearly three years since India last won a Test away from home but captain MS Dhoni prefers to focus on positives after blowing a gilt-edged chance to end the drought.
A draw in the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington means Dhoni's men have a record that reads four draws and 10 losses from their last 14 offshore Tests.
They had New Zealand at their mercy at the Basin Reserve before the heroic 302 from Black Caps skipper Brendon McCullum spun the Test on its axis.
Dhoni admits McCullum and wicketkeeper BJ Watling (124) became limpets who India eventually acknowledged they simply couldn't prise off the benign centre block as they amassed 352 runs across four full sessions.
"We tried our best, we tried all our fielding positions, we tried three new balls to get them out, and after that you have to appreciate that the opposition can also bat well," he said.
"We don't always have to put pressure on our players saying we batted badly or we bowled badly."
Dhoni had nothing but praise for the marathon stint put in by his bowlers in unhelpful conditions that also took no spin.
He didn't want to dwell on any shortcomings of his team outside India, believing they have improved from their previous series away to South Africa.
Dhoni says his young side are still adapting to Test cricket following the departure of several great Indian players, most notably in the batting lineup where the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag are virtually irreplaceable.
"What I wanted here was for our guys to improve as cricketers.
"Often it's not about how much runs you have scored. It's often about what kind of cricket you are playing."
More disappointing than the 1-0 Test series loss was the 4-0 whitewash in the one-day international series last month, for which he could offer few excuses.
Dhoni says they blew numerous winning chances in that series and need to improve several areas of their game ahead of the World Cup in a year's time.
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