England vs India 2022

Sachin Tendulkar in awe of Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root’s batting in fifth Test vs India

The England batting duo of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow rendered the Indian bowling attack helpless. They went on to chase a mammoth 378-run-target in the fourth innings of the fifth Test at Edgbaston. The two were involved in an unbeaten 269 runs partnership that guided England to chase their highest total ever in the 4^th innings in their rich history of Test cricket. Both Root and Bairstow have garnered praises from the cricketing fraternity for their marvellous strokeplay.

Among the many compliments the duo received for their innings, there was one special compliment from the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, the batting maestro wrote, “Special win by England to level the series. Joe Root & Jonny Bairstow have been in sublime form and made batting look very easy. Congratulations to England on a convincing victory.” At the end of the tweet, Tendulkar also tagged England’s new Test coach Brendon McCullum.

Here’s the Tweet:

Special win by England to level the series.

Joe Root & Jonny Bairstow have been in sublime form and made batting look very easy.

Congratulations to England on a convincing victory. @Bazmccullum #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/PKAdWVLGJo

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 5, 2022

India were confident of winning the Test by not allowing England to chase the target. England started their chase in a confident manner as openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley added 107 runs for the first wicket scoring at almost 5 runs per over. After the opening partnership ended, England had a mini-collapse and were reduced to 109/3 as Root and Bairstow came to the crease.

The duo didn’t give any chance to the Indian bowling apart from a catch to Hanuma Vihari at third slip which was dropped. Both batsmen kept rotating the strike with ease turning good balls into ones and twos and didn’t let any bowler settle against them. India tried bowling Ravindra Jadeja from one end to stop the run-flow as the bowler kept hitting the rough patch from over the wicket. Root even countered this plan successfully by playing paddle sweep and the conventional sweep which fetched him boundaries.

Courtesy of the unbeaten knocks of 142 and 114 by Root and Bairstow respectively, England chased the total in 76.4 overs and levelled the series 2-2.