On a cool, overcast morning at Edgbaston, this resurgent England team scaled their highest ever fourth-innings mountain, the final steps of their ascent to a target of 378 runs, sealing a seven-wicket victory over India as if it were a leisurely stroll in The park.
As Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow ran out in the final series right at midday, it not only leveled a five-match series played for the best part of a year at 2-2, but certainly sent a shockwave through the game; England, under the new leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, are now a side seriously feared for the chase in Test cricket.
It was, after all, their fourth such feat this summer, eclipsing the 277, 299 and 296 they achieved against New Zealand, and also their greatest ever chase, the day Stokes pulled off his career-defining Ashes heist at Headingley in 2019 and 359 was taken down. There wasn’t as much drama this time.
Instead, Stokes could sit in the balcony like the next man up and watch an ice-cool chase led by heavenly centuries from Root, 142 not out from 173 balls, and Bairstow, unbeaten on 114 from 145. In the former’s case, his 11- and since the start of 2021 and 28th overall, the last fourth in five innings of relentless form.
India, so dominant at Lord’s and the Oval when they took a 2-1 lead last summer, were virtually powerless to prevent the two Yorkshiremen from perfecting the final 119 runs inside 90 minutes on the fifth morning. The inevitability was remarkable after the early exchanges failed to produce the breakthrough the tourists so craved.
Both batsmen had started the day in the 70s and, in a reversal of their roles in the Leeds chase last week, it was Root who burst out of the garage like a purring supercar, three figures lifted from 136 balls with a series of no-hit drives friction and guides before his new party trick – the reverse scoop for six – dazzled the crowd from day five.
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Bairstow did not have to wait too long for his 12th Test century and second of the match, his quick single off Ravindra Jadeja reaching the landmark from 138 balls; having supported England’s first innings of 284 with 106 – a total that still left a deficit of 132 runs – there was little doubt about the man of the match in this mind-blowing match.
With 21 runs left to win, Bairstow included the latter with a flurry of soft shots against the beleaguered Mohammad Siraj. Root leveled the scores with a reversed four off Jadeja before a miscued replay ended this final slice of history.
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