ENG vs IND: 5th Test Review – Root, Bairstow seal emphatic triumph
Chasing 378 for victory, England registered a historic seven-wicket triumph over India in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. The five-match Test series thus ended in a 2-2 draw and the Three Lions, led by Ben Stokes, retained the Pataudi Trophy as they won the previous series against Virat Kohli’s side in 2018 by 4-1.
India came into the Test match without some of their key players such as skipper Rohit Sharma and batter KL Rahul. Hence, pacer Jasprit Bumrah took over as the Indian captain for the first time. England won the toss and elected to bowl first. Bumrah’s men faced an early setback in the first innings as the new top-order combination failed to deliver. The innings was later revived by Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja with their hundreds, which helped India amass a total of 416.
The English top-order also failed to deliver, courtesy of some unplayable deliveries from skipper Bumrah. But it was in-form batter Jonny Bairstow, who came to England’s rescue again, with a ton. However, the hosts were bowled out for 284 and trailed by a significant margin 132. In India’s second innings, there were no big contributions from anybody except the fifties from Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara, and India could add only 245 runs.
England, with a target of 378, came out strong with their openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley adding 107 runs for the first wicket. After a slight hiccup in the middle, with England losing three wickets in 15 balls after the opening stand, the match was completely taken away from India’s grasp as batters Joe Root and Bairstow scored hundreds, bringing up a 250-run partnership in just 310 balls. England thus recorded their highest chase in Test cricket in 76.4 overs.
Top Performers of the match
Jonny Bairstow
Bairstow was undoubtedly one of the best batters in the match, with twin hundreds. He virtually brought back England into the game in the first innings with a counter-attacking innings, helping his team score 284 after going down 93 for the loss of five wickets. He finished with 106 off 140 balls in the innings and followed it with an unbeaten 114 off 145 balls in the second innings.
Rishabh Pant
Pant was India’s best performer, scoring 203 runs in the match across the two innings. It was his 146 runs off 111 balls in the first innings that set the tone of the match, getting India out of the slump after they were down 93 for five wickets. He contributed again in the second innings, scoring 57 runs off 86 balls. His run tally for the match was second only to Bairstow’s 220 runs.
What’s next for both sides?
The two sides will now meet for the first of three T20Is in Southampton on July 7.
