England complete record run chase against India to level the series 2-2

England etched their name into the history books on day five of the fifth Test at Edgbaston against India as they completed their highest successful run chase in red-ball cricket to draw the five-match series 2-2. Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow buried the visitors in the fourth innings, with the Yorkshire pair scoring twin tons and stitching an incredible unbeaten 269-run stand to take the game away from India and give England an emphatic seven-wicket victory.

After chasing scores of 277, 299, and 296 in their last three Test matches against New Zealand, England continued their ultra-aggressive approach with the bat, hunting down their target of 378 in just 76.4 overs against an elite Indian bowling attack.

The visitors had some hopes of making early inroads with the clouds circling Edgbaston to start the morning, but Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root picked up from where they left off the previous evening, scoring the remaining 118 runs needed in just 19.4 overs. While England benefited from the flat pitch at Edgbaston and a soft batch of Dukes balls that offered precious little movement, the Indians had no answers to Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root’s onslaught, with the four seamers bowling just three maidens between them.

Shami began day five with a pair of erratic drag down’s that sailed past Rishabh Pant down the leg side for eight byes, and the boundaries continued to flow throughout the session. Although Root had one moment of indecision that saw him nearly chop the ball onto his stumps, neither batter faced too much discomfort as 39 runs came from the first six overs of the day to extinguish any hopes of an Indian comeback.

Root brought up his 28th Test century and fourth of the series with a dab towards the third man boundary, and the world’s number one batter started to unfurl his entire repertoire of strokes after reaching three figures, reverse scooping Shardul Thakur for six over the slip cordon. Jonny Bairstow followed his former captain to the three-figure mark and brought up his sixth ton of the year and fourth in his last five innings this summer with a single against Jadeja. The number five cut loose after reaching his century, smashing a trio of boundaries against Mohammed Siraj to take England within touching distance of the target.

Fittingly, it was another reverse sweep from Joe Root that sealed the win for England as the pair finished with the fourth-highest partnership in the fourth innings of a Test match and helped the hosts eclipse their titanic effort at Headingley 2019 to complete a record run chase in whites.