ENG Vs IND, 5th Test: Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow Frustrate India On Day 4; England On Course For Famous Win

ENG Vs IND, 5th Test: Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow Frustrate India On Day 4; England On Course For Famous Win

ENG Vs IND, 5th Test: Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow Frustrate India On Day 4; England On Course For Famous Win

BIRMINGHAM : England effected a stunning turnaround on Day 4 of the rescheduled fifth Test against India, knocking off 259 of the 378 runs they needed to win, losing only three wickets in the process. At stumps, England were 259/3 in 57 overs, having scored their runs at a hectic 4.54 runs an over, mainly due to an unbeaten 72 off 87 balls by Jonny Bairstow, who has added 150 runs for the third wicket with Joe Root (76 off 112).

After the first three days had been won by India, England hit back hard on the fourth, removing the last seven Indian wickets for only 120 runs today to bowl them out for 245 in the second innings. England openers Alex Lees (56) and Zak Crawley (46) provided a solid foundation in the chase of 378 by adding 107 for the first wicket.The way Lees and Crawley started again proved England’s intent. The opening pair put up 100 in only 20 overs. It was Jasprit Bumrah, again, who got the breakthrough, returning to knock back Crawley’s off-stump.

After that, there was a sudden surge of hope for India.

Bumrah leapt for joy – the only time in the Test the captain had shown raw emotion. Ollie Pope had edged Bumrah to the wicketkeeper first ball after tea. The crowd were in raptures. Virat Kohli ran around in a semicircle, pumping his fist. The noise in the ground had gone up a few decibels.

Perhaps it was due to the roar that Lees failed to hear Root’s call for a single. It led to the well-set Lees being run-out, and England has gone from 107/0 to 109/3 in the space of 14 balls.

The quick loss of wickets challenged England’s intent, but Root and Bairstow steadied the ship with brilliant counter-attacking batsmanship.

Poor batting

India added 28 runs today before losing the last seven wickets for 93 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara started with a couple of boundaries but cut a short ball straight to gully. Shreyas Iyer was always going to be tested by the short ball, and Matthew Pott and Ben Stokes peppered him with bouncers. The No. 5 attempted a few audacious hooks before toe-ending one straight to midwicket. Rishabh Pant, meanwhile, continued his good form by registering a half-century.

Jadeja and Pant began to resurrect the innings for the second time in the match, but Pant’s over-aggression in attempting to reverse-sweep led to his downfall. England continued their short-ball tactic against the Indian lower-order, and three men were set deep on the leg-side as Stokes hammered the ball into the pitch, luring the tailenders to hook or pull. Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami and Bumrah all succumbed to the tactic as England bowled India out for 245.

It was a disappointing performance by the batsmen in the second dig. Apart from Kohli and Shubman Gill, who got decent deliveries, the rest committed mistakes. Perhaps there was a sense of over-confidence, or the team felt a target of over 350 was going to be impossible for England to achieve.

On the hunt

England chased down 250-plus targets in their previous three matches, winning the series against New Zealand 3-0.

England’s 4th innings totals in last 3 matches:

• 296/3 in 54.2 overs at a run-rate of 5.44
• 299/5 in 50 overs at a run-rate of 5.98
• 279/5 in 78.5 overs at a run-rate of 3.53

4.56 Root & Bairstow added 150 runs at 4.56 an over.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 416

England 1st innings 284

India 2nd innings overnight 125/3

S Gill c Crawley b Anderson 4

C Pujara c Lees b Broad 66

H Vihari c Bairstow b Broad 11

V Kohli c Root b Stokes 20

R Pant c Root b Leach 57

S Iyer c Anderson b Potts 19

R Jadeja b Stokes 23

S Thakur c Crawley b Potts 4

M Shami c Lees b Stokes 13

J Bumrah c Crawley b Stokes 7

M Siraj not out 2

Extras: (b 6, lb 7, nb 3, w 3) 19

Total: (All out, 81.5 overs) 245

FOW: 1-4, 2-43, 3-75, 4-153, 5-190,

6-198, 7-207, 8-230, 9-236

Bowling O M R W

James Anderson 19 5 46 1

Stuart Broad 16 1 58 2

Matthew Potts 17 3 50 2

Jack Leach 12 1 28 1

Ben Stokes 11.5 0 33 4

Joe Root 6 1 17 0

England 2nd innings

A Lees run out (Shami) 56

Z Crawley b Bumrah 46

O Pope not out 0

J Root not out 76

J Bairstow not out 72

Extras: (lb 7, nb 1, w 1) 9

Total: (3 wickets, 57 overs) 259

FOW: 1-107, 2-107, 3-109

Bowling O M R W

Jasprit Bumrah 13 0 53 2

Mohammed Shami 12 2 49 0

Ravindra Jadeja 15 2 53 0

Mohammed Siraj 10 0 64 0

Shardul Thakur 7 0 33 0