India vs England, Edgbaston Test Day 4 Highlights: Root-Bairstow century stand puts hosts in driver's seat

Birmingham, July 4: England's in-form top-order batters Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow justified their skipper Ben Stokes' decision to chase in the fourth innings and their coach Brendon McCullum's 'Bazball' approach with their dominant show with the bat in the final session on day four of the rescheduled fifth Test against India here on Monday (July 4).

Bowlers restricted Indians to a below-par 245 in their second innings, setting themselves a mammoth 378 runs to chase. The opening pair of Alex Lees (56) and Zak Crawley gave the hosts a bright start in the record run chase at Edgbaston. The duo shared a century stand for the first wicket in the afternoon session before India's captain and pace spearhead dismissed Crawley for 46 at the stroke of the tea break.

Bumrah then removed Ollie Pope for a duck on the very first delivery of the third session and soon after a mix-up between Root and Lees cost the latter his wicket. Lees was run out for 56 and the match turned on its head as the hosts lost three wickets in a span of 14 minutes on either side of the break.

However, Root and Bairstow held the fort for their team and steered England through troubled waters. No Indian bowler could hardly pose any trouble to the set Yorkshire duo as they kept scoring runs at will. Bumrah (13-0-53-2) looked disciplined but couldn't get any support from the other end as Mohammed Shami (12-2-49-0) and Ravindra Jadeja (15-2-53-0) - failed to pick up any wickets. However, the fourth and fifth bowling options i.e. Mohammed Siraj (10-0-64-0) and Shardul Thakur (7-0-33-0) leaked runs.

As Indian bowlers remained indisciplined, Root and Bairstow made most of the opportunity and kept scoring runs at will and shared an unbeaten 150-run partnership for the fourth wicket as England posted 259 for three in just 57 overs. Both Root (76* off 112) and Bairstow (72* off 87) - who slammed a century in the first innings - completed their half-centuries.

It was the tenth 100-run partnership between Root and Bairstow in Test cricket and looks to be headed towards a winning cause. The hosts now require 119 runs to win with seven wickets in the bank and have a full day's play and the overnight batters would be looking to slam their respective centuries. Indians, on the other hand, face an uphill task of picking up wickets in quick succession in order to win the game.

Earlier in the day, Stokes returned with 4/33 and restricted India to 245 in their second innings. Having resumed batting from 125 for 3, Indian top-order batters paid the price for getting excessively aggressive to be bundled out inside 250 in their second essay.