ENG vs IND 5th Test Day 5 Highlights: Bairstow, Root smash tons as England win by 7 wickets

“Teams might be better than us but they are not going to be braver than us. When there is clarity, it gets easier. We always knew we were going to go chase this. The language we speak and the mentality we spread in dressing room. It’s how we played the game from five weeks ago that’s important” 

378 - England chased down a target of 378 set by India in the 4th innings of this Test match, this is their highest ever run chase in the 4th innings of a Test match; their previous best was against Australia at Leeds during Aug. 2019 when they chased down 358. 

Percentage of England Tests wins where they made a fourth innings hundred: 

Before Brendon McCullum was head coach - 1.14%
With Brendon McCullum as head coach - 75%

England have beaten India by seven wickets in the delayed fifth Test, securing a 2-2 series draw with their highest ever run chase in Test cricket. Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root's partnership of 269* is the fourth highest ever in the 4th inns of a Test. ENG: 378/3

This team. This way of playing. Simply irresistible ❤️

Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/jKoipF4U01

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Phl1BNkGol

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 5, 2022

JONNY BAIRSTOW, take a bow!  Bairstow hits his second century of the match as England close in on a remarkable victory at Edgbaston! He is now the 9th player to hit 4 Test 100s in England in a calendar year.

Most Test Centuries in a calendar year for England:

6 - Denis Compton, 1947
6 - Michael Vaughan, 2002
6 - Joe Root, 2021
6* - Jonny Bairstow, 2022
5 - Dennis Amiss, 1974
5 - Kevin Pietersen, 2008
5 - Alastair Cook, 2010
5 - Ian Bell, 2011
5* - Joe Root, 2022

FOUR, width on offer, Root leans forward and crashes it through point for four runs. 350 is up for England and Joe Root has more than 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He has scored 25% of them since the beginning of 2021.

Ridiculous from ⁦@root66⁩ 🤣 pic.twitter.com/nsvqqUQeEt

— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) July 5, 2022

This has been a year of Test cricket series by Joe Root. 700 RUNS, phew!

Doing everything he wants to at the moment on the cricket pitch and there's nothing India can do about it. 47 more needed to win now.

11th hundred for Root since 2021, the man has batted as if possessed. Brings his century with a nice dab over gully and is showing no signs of slowing down as England can now almost sniff the win in Edgbaston. And, a double hundred stand between him and Bairstow who picked England up at 109/3 and have turned the game upside down since. 59 more needed to win now.

A batting God! 🙇

Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/jKoipF4U01

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 | @IGcom pic.twitter.com/eQJeCygG6r

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 5, 2022

They change the ball, yet again, in the 65th over. Ninth time in the match. Second of the morning. Indian fans would hope of the similar results as the change produced yesterday pre and post Tea. 300 up for the hosts who are now just 78 runs away from the win. India, still need seven wickets.

The former England captain is making it look too easy out there  in the middle. A creamy cover drive off Shami that makes a crunching sound off the bat. 80 is the number to get now, and these two don't look like taking it beyond the first session today.

Root inside edges one off Bumrah and the ball goes inches wide off Rishabh Pant for four. Bairstow gloves one off Shami and the ball goes wider off the Indian keeper for four. Runs coming easy for England on the final day as well. 96 more needed now with seven wickets in hand.

The target is down to double figures 🤞

Scorecard/Clips: https://t.co/jKoipF4U01

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/oaC1Yk46et

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 5, 2022

Shami's over was paused for a change of the ball followed by back to back boundaries for Jonny Bairstow either side of the fielder at point. England, 271/3. Need 107 more to win.

Siraj with the first over of the day. England collect four runs and move to 115 more required with seven wickets in hand. Shami given the ball now. India will be looking to dismiss Root and Bairstow quickly to have any chance at winning the match. The scoreboard reads 263/3.

THIS JUST IN: More on the racism incident involving Indian fans at day four of the England-India Edgbaston Test. The West Midlands Police have now launched a criminal investigation into the matter. 

Racist behaviour at @Edgbaston towards Indian fans in block 22 Eric Hollies. People calling us Curry C**ts and paki bas****s. We reported it to the stewards and showed them the culprits at least 10 times but no response and all we were told is to sit in our seats. @ECB_cricket pic.twitter.com/GJPFqbjIbz

— Trust The Process!!!! (@AnilSehmi) July 4, 2022

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who is known for his switch hits, talked about how he worked for months to perfect the switch hit before unleashing at Durham against former Kiwi all-rounder Scott Styris and how he used to practice one-handed batting to get it right. In a Sky Sports Cricket video ahead of Day 4 of the ongoing England-India Edgbaston Test, Pietersen shared his experience with Ravi Shastri and Nasser Hussain on how to face spin in England. On being asked by Hussain if he can still switch hit? Pietersen said,” There were months and months I practised this. I was 16 or 17 and a lot of practice went into this. I used to do one-hand hit drills. Also Read

India’s stand-in skipper Jasprit Bumrah has surpassed Kapil Dev’s record. Bumrah has the most number of wickets as an Indian seamer against England in a Test series. Bumrah now has 23 wickets in the ongoing series, Kapil Dev had claimed 22 wickets in the 1981-82 series. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is third on the list with 19 wickets. Also Read

The Indians were on their knees, pleading with the umpires to change the ball that had bled 106 runs in little over 20 overs. They had tried at least 4-5 times but every time the umpires put it through the ring, the ball would slip through. Until then, England openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley were charging along like a runaway express, slamming the bowlers on the up and driving them to distraction. “Indians are looking rattled,” Nasser Hussain would say on air at one point. Until then, even Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami couldn’t coax any movement from the ball. Finally, the ball failed the ring test after the fifth ball of the 20th over and things began to miraculously change. Three quick wickets fell to bring India back into the contest. Also Read

Shreyas Iyer’s arrival at the crease made Brendon McCullum active in the dressing room balcony. McCullum flicked his neck with his right hand; the ominous visual looked straight out of a gangster move but the instruction from the England coach to his players was to start chin music, with a couple of close catchers on the leg side. By now, Shreyas’s weakness against fast, short-pitch bowling is well-known to the cricket world. A short ball angling across the body from James Anderson had accounted for the Indian middle-order batsman in the first innings. At the second dig, Matthew Potts, slippery but never going past 85 mph, became his tormentor-in-chief. With both Mark Wood and Jofra Archer out injured, England don’t have a tearaway quick in their ranks. Also Read

Just four overs before the close of play, Mohammed Siraj staggered in from around the stumps against Jonny Bairstow in an ambitious bid to bounce him out. It was the last-ditch effort of a lost and tired team to take some hope back to the dressing room. But Bairstow, in emphatic touch, blasted a weary bouncer from the wearier bowler into the stands. The ball and the shot captured the mood of the match. India, defending 377, looked defeated and deflated. England, who have never chased a score as steep as this to win a Test, looked triumphant and just 119 runs from the dreamland. Also Read