In reply to India’s 416 in the first innings, England was 84 for five at the end of the second day of the Edgbaston Test. My eyes were afraid of the follow-on. In another remarkable century, Jonny Bairstow, who was in dream form, saved the team from that glare.
In the end, India finished the third day at 125 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara is batting on 50 and Rishabh Pant on 30. In all, India has taken the lead of 257 runs.
Earlier, Bairstow had delivered three devastating innings of 136, 162, and 71* in the last two Tests of the series, which whitewashed Test world champions New Zealand 3-0. This time he scored 106 off 140 balls. He got a century in three consecutive Tests. Five of Bairstow’s 11 Test centuries have come this year. He is only the second batter in Test history to score five centuries in a year after five or so.
It took Bairstow 65 balls to score the first 16 runs in the face of the team’s disaster. The next 84 runs came off just 54 balls. His innings included 14 fours and two sixes. Bairstow added 66 runs with skipper Ben Stokes (25) for the sixth wicket and 92 with Sam Billings (36) for the seventh wicket. Mohammed Shami returns to him. England did not last long after Bairstow’s departure. For India, Mohammed Siraj took four wickets, skipper Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets and Shami took two wickets.
