Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow put India to the sword as England beat India to level series

Riding on unbeaten tons from Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, England scripted history as the team pulled off their highest-successful chase in longest format to beat by seven wickets at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Chasing a total of 378, Root and Bairstow's 269-run partnership helped England record their fourth successive chase in Test cricket. The Ben Stokes-led side has been playing some aggressive brand of cricket, termed 'Bazball', since the appointment of Brendon McCullum as head coach of the team.

With a crushing defeat to England in the Edgbaston Test, the Indian cricket team has failed to seize the opportunity to register its fourth Test series win in the country. Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root, who have made chasing tricky targets in Test matches fashionable, put the famed Indian pace attack to sword with imposing hundreds as England recorded their highest ever chase of 378 runs with minimum fuss to level the five-match series 2-2. When England were rattled on the fourth afternoon by stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah, the two star batters didn't waver from their game plan. On the fifth day, England needed just under 20 overs to knock off the remaining 119 runs.

Jonny Bairstow (114*; 145 balls, 15x4, 1x6) and Joe Root (142*; 173 balls, 19x4, 1x6) and their unbroken partnership of 269 in just 52.3 overs helped England chase down the highest ever fourth-innings total on English soil on a heady Day Five in Birmingham on Tuesday. The result denied India a series win, that looked possible at the end of Day Three when they were 257 ahead with seven wickets left and had clinched seven sessions out of the nine played. That happened because England were both “braver” and “better” than India, especially on the last two days. And they had two in-form, class batsmen, who, armed with clarity in the dressing room, were prepared to play their strokes, which negated a quality seam attack. Bairstow, who scored his second hundred of the match and his sixth in his last eight, having scored only six in the previous 79, was named man of the match. Root, England’s talisman and perhaps the best batter in the world now, took home the man-of-the -series honours with 737 runs and four hundreds at a stunning average of 105.28. His nine Test tons are the most that any player has scored against India.

The England v India series finally reached its conclusion this week when the rearranged fifth Test was won in impressive style by Ben Stokes' side.