BIRMINGHAM: Jonny Bairstow completed his third hundred in successive Tests before falling for 106 at Edgbaston on Sunday to leave England’s series-decider against India intriguingly poised.

Bairstow, 91 not out when rain forced an early lunch on the third day of the Covid-delayed fifth Test, went to three figures when a push off seamer Shardul Thakur was misfielded on the cover rope to give the Yorkshireman his 14th four in 119 balls. He also hit two sixes.

His exit left England 227-6 and they were eventually dismissed for 284 in reply to India’a first-innings 416, a deficit of 132 runs.

But that represented a major recovery after England had resumed on 84-5 in a match they have to win to end this five-match series level at 2-2.

The 32-year-old Bairstow’s latest century followed scores of 136 at Trent Bridge and 162 at his Headingley home ground, where he also made an unbeaten 71 in the second innings, in England’s recent 3-0 whitewash of Test world champions New Zealand.

In England’s first series under their new leadership duo of Stokes and red-ball coach Brendon McCullum, the team had several times hit its way out of trouble.

But for all the talk of the new ‘Bazball’ approach, a reference to former New Zealand captain McCullum’s nickname, Bairstow did still play himself in against India’s impressive pace attack in a match England have to win to square this five-match series at 2-2.

Bairstow was 16 not out off 65 balls before, playing orthodox but powerfully hit strokes, he accelerated in scoring his next 84 runs off just 54 balls as the 32-year-old went to his fifth Test century of 2022.

But he fell to the first ball of pacer Mohammed Shami’s new spell when an edged drive flew to former India captain Virat Kohli at first slip. Kohli, who earlier Sunday had been spoken to by the umpires following a verbal altercation with Bairstow, blew a kiss to the crowd.

Matthew Potts added a rapid 19 before he was last man out, caught in the slips by Shreyas Iyer off Mohammed Siraj, although it needed a lengthy review by third umpire Marais Erasmus to confirm the dismissal and the paceman’s figures of 4-66 in 11.3 overs.

All-rounder Stokes, nought not out overnight, batted in frantic fashion for 25.

Already dropped on 18, when Shardul Thakur floored a routine catch at cover, Stokes was missed again on 25 when India stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah dropped a low chance at mid-off, with Thakur the unlucky bowler on this occasion.

But Thakur was not unlucky for long as Stokes, far from retreating into his shell, drove harder and higher next ball only for Bumrah, diving to his left, to hold a brilliant catch and one far harder than the chance he had missed.

That catch continued an excellent all-round match for Bumrah, leading India for the first time after regular captain Rohit Sharma was sidelined by Covid-19.

On the second day, the tailender had smashed Stuart Broad for 29 in an over costing a total of 35 — the most expensive in Test history — in a flourish to an India total built on hundreds from Rishabh Pant (146) and Ravindra Jadeja (104).

Bumrah, in his more familiar role of new-ball spearhead, then removed all of England’s top three in a return of 3-68 from 19 overs.

That gave him 21 wickets in the series, the most by an Indian bowler in a series in England.

The seamer breached Alex Lees’s (six) defence with a length delivery and had Zak Crawley (nine) and Ollie Pope (10) caught in the slips before rain returned to halt India’s charge.

Shami troubled Joe Root but was unlucky not to be rewarded for his effort.

Aware of the importance of Root’s wicket, India wasted a review trying to get him lbw to a Shami delivery which replays confirmed would have sailed over the stumps.

Mohammed Siraj earned India the prize wicket with a rising delivery which Root wanted to cut but ended up being caught behind for 31.

Jack Leach walked out as the nightwatchman but lasted only five balls before Shami removed him caught behind.

He could have perished in Shami’s previous over but Kohli dropped him in the slip.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight) 84-5:

A. Lees b Bumrah 6

Z. Crawley c Gill b Bumrah 9

O. Pope c Iyer b Bumrah 10

J. Root c Pant b Siraj 31

J. Bairstow c Kohli b Shami 106

J. Leach c Pant b Shami 0

B. Stokes c Bumrah b Thakur 25

S. Billings b Siraj 36

S. Broad c Pant b Siraj 1

M. Potts c Iyer b Siraj 19

J. Anderson not out 6

EXTRAS (B-16, LB-5, NB-13, W-1) 35

TOTAL (all out, 61.3 overs) 284

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-16 (Lees), 2-27 (Crawley), 3-44 (Pope), 4-78 (Root), 5-83 (Leach), 6-149 (Stokes), 7-241 (Bairstow), 8-248 (Broad), 9-267 (Billings)

BOWLING: Bumrah 19-3-68-3 (6nb), Shami 22-4-78-2 (1w), Siraj 11.3-2-66-4, Thakur 7-0-48-1 (7nb), Jadeja 2-0-3-0

INDIA: S. Gill, C. Pujara, H. Vihari, V. Kohli, R. Pant, S. Iyer, R. Jadeja, S. Thakur, M. Shami, J. Bumrah, M. Siraj

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2022