An inexperienced side working manfully to come to terms with alien conditions, and succeeding enough to turn a potential 3-0 rout into a toughly-contested 1-0 Test series defeat in India, might not be the stuff of legend, but for England's cricketers it was a more comforting reality than had widely been feared.
Without the rain that freakishly washed out most of the last two days, and forced an abandonment yesterday, England might - just might - have achieved a win in the final Test that would have caused them to be acclaimed for their strength of character and Hussain to be extolled as a leader possessing a rare blend of steel, shrewdness and sensitivity.
Hussain's leadership of this England squad established him beyond challenge him as a captain of substance. Throughout he was faced with the joint demands of trying to win a Test series and not exposing a naive and, in the case of Ashley Giles, injury-hindered, bowling attack. The path he chose was disciplined, and at times uncompromisingly defensive.
"This squad has grown together and has shown a lot of heart," Hussain said. "Take out two hours of abysmal batting in the first Test in Mohali, and we played good cricket throughout the series. We are not going to start cracking open the champagne, but I am very pleased with this team."
His defence of the suffocating bowling tactics adopted to curb Sachin Tendulkar is not about to win universal approval but his cry of frustration in its defence at least had to be respected for its emotional honesty.
"People are entitled to disagree with me, but I have - or we have - bowled out India for 291 in the last Test and 238 in this Test. Australia came over here a year ago with a bowling attack of McGrath, Warne and Gillespie, against the same batting line-up and conceded 657 for seven and 501 in the last two Tests. These boys can bat.
"But not only do I have to take on the opposition with an inexperienced bowling attack, it seems that I have to ask India where they want us to bowl, and go out to field with no plan whatsoever. Maybe we'll try that next time."
John Wright, India's coach, offered a balanced critique: "Sachin is the best batsman in the world and the tactics were not easy to counter," he said. "Whether such negative bowling made the game an attractive spectacle is open to debate, but it certainly limited the scoring. The main issue was whether Ashley was going to get any wickets doing it. You are not going to win a lot of Tests attacking from only one end."
It was a particular relief to see Hussain relinquish the moral high ground that Michael Vaughan, upset at being given out "handling the ball", had claimed on England's behalf by claiming they would have withdrawn the appeal.
"My first reaction was 'how could that be out?' but we looked at the replays and realised it could be. Nine out of 10 times, as a captain, I would have appealed for it. One time out of 10, it might not have felt right and I might have taken the moral high ground. You don't know how it looks to you unless you are out there."
