Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow Put England On Course For Memorable Win Against India

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow put England on course for a ground-breaking run chase against India despite Jasprit Bumrah's brilliance on day four of the rescheduled fifth Test, setting up a fitting series finale in Birmingham on Monday. Skipper Bumrah brought India back in the game with wickets on either side of the lunch break after England openers Alex Lees (56 off 65) and Zak Crawley (46 off 76) finally found form and shared a 107-run stand chasing a record 378-run target. From 107/0, it soon became 109 for three before the dangerous duo of Root (76 batting off 112) and Bairstow (72 batting off 87) frustrated the Indians with a commanding 150-run partnership off just 197 balls.

England were 259 for three at stumps on day four, needing a very gettable 119 runs for a series levelling victory.

Though the wicket did not offer much help, Indian bowlers were unable to maintain pressure on the English batters who played with the aggression that has become hallmark of the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum's school of cricket.

It also helped that India deployed very defensive spread out field, letting England batters rotated the strike with elan.

Bairstow, who is in the form of his life, was dropped on 14 by Hanuma Vihari and he made India pay dearly for it.

With Ben Stokes and Sam Billing still to come, India will need something special to pull off a win from here. India's bowling performance in the second innings was reminiscent of their struggles in South Africa where they failed to defend target twice after winning the series opener.

India could have made England chase in excess of 400 on day five if it was not for some poor shot selection. After starting the day at 125 for three, India were all out for 245 in the second innings.