ENG vs IND: Root, Bairstow slam unbeaten fifties to lead England's mammoth chase

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow slammed unbeaten fifties to lead Englands mammoth chase of 378 against India on day four of rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston on Monday At stumps the hosts were 2593 in 57 overs needing just 119 on a soldout final day to level the fivematch series being played for the Pataudi TrophyOn a day on which rain chose not to interrupt play England made merry as Root and Bairstow went back to the dressing room after making 76 off 110 balls and 73 off 89 deliveries respectively Before this on a pitch that had variable bounce and some turn for spinners England took out the last seven Indian wickets for 120 runs with Ben Stokes adding three more scalps to bowl the visitors out for 245 in 815 oversThen the effect of the heavy roller on the pitch was apparent by the terrific opening stand of 107 between Alex Lees 56 and Zak Crawley 46 before a ball change after 205 overs fetched India three wickets in as many overs But Root and Bairstows unconquered stand of 150 meant the day belonged to the hostsIndia struck on the very first ball after tea as Bumrah enticed Ollie Pope to poke at a backofthelength ball coming in which the batter did But the ball held its line and took Popes outer edge behind to Pant departing without troubling the scorersIn the next over Lees insideedged off Ravindra Jadeja into the legside and had no idea where the ball had gone With Root already running from the nonstrikers end Lees ran belatedly and was run out easily at the nonstrikers endBairstow got off the mark with a boundary through backfoot punch off Jadeja while Root survived lbw appeals off Jadeja and Shami as India lost two reviews in as many overs The shift in gears came from the 37th over when Root reverseswept and paddled Jadeja for a brace of boundariesAlso Read Harmanpreet Kaur Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma were outstandingBairstow had a life at 14 when an outside edge off his blade burst through Hanuma Viharis hands at the second slip with the ball flying towards the boundary rope That set the tone for the counterattack from the duo Root bringing the sweep and whips to reach his halfcentury in 71 ballsBairstow on the other hand found the gaps for boundaries through flicks pulls and slices to reach his fifty with a brace through his square leg He got another life at 39 when a faint edge on the flick didnt stick into the gloves of a diving PantAfter reaching his fifty Bairstow carved Shami through backward point for a boundary before playing a fierce hook off Siraj for a six over fine leg to keep England in the hunt of chasing their highest successful score in Test cricketEarlier Rishabh Pant followed up his 146 in the first innings with 57 while Cheteshwar Pujara notched up 66 in Indias second innings score of 245 Pujara added 16 more to his overnight total of 50 before cutting straight to the backward point in Stuart Broads first overA controlled Pant reached his fifty with a delicate flick through the fine leg becoming just the second Indian wicketkeeper after Farokh Engineer to get a century and fifty in the same Test Shreyas Iyer after hitting three boundaries fell to the short ball again in the match pulling straight to midwicket off PottsPant welcomed Jack Leach with a reverse sweep behind fine leg for a boundary despite falling on the ground He tried to unsettle Leachs line and length with another reverse sweep but could only glove behind to first slip finishing the match with 203 runs across both inningsPotts rattled Shardul Thakur with short balls even striking him on side of the helmet once In his next over Thakur tried to take on the short ball with a pull but the topedge flew to deep fine leg Stokes then bounced out Shami before getting one to jag in sharply and force Jadeja to chop onto his stumps He ended Indias innings by having Bumrah hole out to fine leg immediately after being hit for a sixIn the pursuit of 378 Lees and Crawley hit two boundaries each to take England to 43 runs in eight overs Indias introduction of Jadeja had little effect on England as Lees danced down the pitch to drive through midoff before nailing the gap through point to make it two boundaries off his opening overLees continued to be eyecatchy in his stroke play reaching his fifty in just 44 balls with a copybook style backfoot punch through coverpoint off Siraj Crawley who survived a caught behind appeal off Jadeja brought out some exquisite drives flicks and started to find gaps crisply for fun The leftright duo brought up Englands century in 195 overs marking the firstcentury stand between the duoFor India who got to change the ball after 205 overs Bumrah brought himself on in the 22nd over and got success on the fourth ball as Crawleys offstump was castled with the batter offering no shot to an inducker providing India a vital breakthrough an over before teaPost tea India would find two more wickets before Root and Bairstow joined forces to bring England on the path of their fourth straight successful chase in as many TestsBrief scores India 416 and 245 in 815 overs Cheteshwar Pujara 66 Rishabh Pant 57 Ben Stokes 433 Matthew Potts 250 versus England 284 and 2593 in 57 overs Joe Root 76 not out Jonny Bairstow 72 Jasprit Bumrah 253 England trail by 119 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever