Edgbaston
\nEngland rode unbeaten hundreds by Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow to pull off their highest successful chase, coasting to a series-levelling seven-wicket victory in the rearranged fifth test against India at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
\nChasing 378 for victory, England went into the final day needing 119 runs with seven wickets in hand.
\nRoot went on to smash a masterly 142 not out, his 28th test century, forging a mammoth 269-run partnership for the unbroken fourth wicket with Bairstow.
\nRoot\u2019s elegant hundred was studded with 19 boundaries and a six.
\nBairstow\u2019s unbeaten 114, which included 15 fours and a six, was his second hundred of the match as England triumphed with two sessions to spare.
\nEngland\u2019s previous highest successful run chase came in 2019 when they reached a 359-run target in an Ashes test against Australia on the back of Stokes\u2019s brilliant unbeaten century.
\nIt was a tremendous turnaround by England who had been on the back foot after conceding a significant first-innings lead of 132.
\nRoot and Bairstow showed the kind of sustained aggression which is quickly becoming the hallmark of this England test team since Brendon McCullum took over as the head coach and Ben Stokes assumed captaincy.
\nRoot grew so much in confidence that he treated Shardul Thakur like a spinner, stepping out against the seamer and then playing an audacious reverse-scoop against him that sailed over for a six.
\nBairstow brought up his fourth hundred in five innings with a tight single before hitting Mohammed Siraj for three successive boundaries.<\/p>\n
Pundits slam \u2018timid\u2019 India
\nMeanwhile, cricketers and pundits slammed India\u2019s batting as England batsmen Bairstow and Root hit hundreds to thrash the tourists.
\n\u201cSpecial win by England to level the series. Joe Root & Jonny Bairstow have been in sublime form and made batting look very easy,\u201d batting great Sachin Tendulkar wrote on Twitter.
\n\u201cCongratulations to England on a convincing victory.\u201d Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle hit out at India.
\n\u201cThe 8th largest run-chase in history has been a stroll in the park. Bat hasn\u2019t faced a challenge from the ball for the last 200 runs,\u201d he tweeted.
\nFormer India fast bowler Irfan Pathan tweeted: \u201cThis victory of team England should hurt Team India. That was too easy.\u201d
\nFormer coach Ravi Shastri hit out at the batsmen for their defensive approach.
\n\u201cThey needed to bat two sessions and I thought they were defensive, they were timid today, especially after lunch,\u201d Shastri, who was coach when India led the series 2-1 last year, said after Monday\u2019s day four.
\n\u201cEven after they had lost those wickets, they could have taken some chances. Runs were important at that stage of the game and I thought they just went into a shell, lost those wickets too quickly, and gave enough time for England to bat today.\u201d
\nFormer India cricketer Virender Sehwag said India needed to do some thinking after the loss.
\n\u201cIndia have quite a few issues to address, only Pujara & Pant from the top 6 scoring runs and Jadeja batting brilliantly, but need batsman to be in form,\u201d Sehwag tweeted.
\n\u201cBowling in the fourth innings was absolutely listless,\u201d the former opening batsman said.
\nThe five-match series against India could not be completed last year following Covid-19 cases in the India camp ahead of the final match at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Edgbaston England rode unbeaten hundreds by Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow to pull off their highest successful chase, coasting to a series-levelling seven-wicket victory in the rearranged fifth test against India at Edgbaston on Tuesday. Chasing 378 for victory, England went into the final day needing 119 runs with seven wickets in hand. Root went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[9398,1336,195],"class_list":{"0":"post-270047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-chase","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-india"},"yoast_head":"\n