ENG VS IND - 5th Test (Rescheduled match), India tour of England, 2022

It's a rule of life -- you never, ever, for any reason, at any point of time, needle a sleeping giant. Kohli and India are learning it the hard way. There's also a lesson in here for every team out there, to go out of their way and finish a series when they're on top. Postponing doesn't help. Anyway, this was a series for the ages, and hope you enjoyed reading us as much as we did writing it out for you, as I, Vineet Anantharaman, sign off on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Nikhil Jadhav, and our scorers, Siva and Vinod. Until the next silverware that hopefully doesn't need nine months to know where it's going, ta ta!!

Oh these mixed feelings. You can't celebrate, you can't mourn, and that's what both Stokes and Bumrah are dealing with as they walk up to the Pataudi Trophy, pose by it, and barely hold it for a couple of seconds before placing it back down. After all, if they are to lift it properly, they'd need to call up Root and Kohli as well. That's what you get when you have to share stuff. 2-2, and fittingly so.

Ben Stokes | Series-drawing skipper: When the lads play like this, it makes my job easier. When you have clarity like we have in the dressing room, it makes chasing totals like this easier. 378 would have been scary five weeks ago, but now it's all good. Jonny and Root will get all the credit, but the precedent was set up by the way the openers played against Bumrah and Shami with the new ball. It is all about taking wickets and taking ten wickets. There are no complains. Some times, teams will be better than us, but no one will be braver than us, quote by Jack Leach. We are trying to rewrite how Test cricket is played in England. All our plans from the last four-five weeks is what we want to take ahead. Bowling on the top of off isn't important, it is all about taking ten wickets. We know that we want to give some new life to Test cricket. The support we received has been fantastic in the short time that we've been around. Inspiring the next generation is what we want to do. We want to bring in new fans and want to leave a mark on Test cricket.

Jasprit Bumrah | India's MoS and series-drawing skipper: I won't go that far ahead (of calling himself an all-rounder). That's the beauty of Test cricket, even if you have three good days. We fell short with the bat yesterday and that is where we let the opposition in to let the match slip away from us. Ifs and buts can always be there. If you go back, if there was no rain in the first match, we could have won the series. But England played really well. We have drawn the series and both teams played very good cricket and it was a fair result. Pant takes his chances. He and Jaddu got us back into the game with their counter-attack. We were ahead in the game. He takes his chances, backs himself and very happy for him. Dravid is always there to guide us and back us. We could have been a little straighter in our bowling lines and use the variable bounce. The captaincy future is not what I decide. I like the responsibility. It was a good challenge, a new challenge. It was an honour to lead the team and a great experience.

Joe Root | England's MoS: Love playing. It's as simple as that. The environment has been great and the guys are having fun in the last four weeks. There is absolute clarity when we were chasing it down and there was total belief. Absolutely didn't think of stepping away from the game. There are a bunch of lovely lads and Stokes has the backing of everyone. Our responsibility is to keep everyone entertained and keep it fun. [On his form] It is something you are constantly searching for and something you rarely find. You want to keep it as fun as possible. Still watching Jonny bat is great, I just wanted to give him strike. I have accepted that you aren't going to have success all the time. As a 5-10 year old kid, having fun is what you want and that is what is the most enjoyable part of the career. We have been riding a brilliant wave of confidence after brilliant performances against NZ. The start the two openers got us off to was superb and they put the pressure back on. It made it a lot more easier for us and those scores were a lot more than what was seen on the score sheet. It was great fun doing it.

Jonny Bairstow | MoM [surprise, surprise]: It is great fun at the moment. The last month has been fantastic for the lads and the smiles on their faces when everyone does well is a massive part of it. I am stripping it back to the basics. The last few years have been tough on me but the last few months have been fantastic. Fair play to everyone who went through that. To the crowd as well: Day five was over in 90 minutes. I just have an enjoyment factor now. I am not afraid of failing and just want to put the pressure on the opposition. We are going to lose games with the approach we have, but it is a positive fun brand of cricket to play. The chase was all under control (laughs). They have some world class bowlers and you just have to soak the pressure. They try to intimidate, they have some fantastic players and it was about trying to shift the pressure on them. There are going to be phases when they are going to play really well. There was a period when it started reversing as well. And today morning was a different morning. Root and me are just two lads from Yorkshire. We have grown up playing together and spent a lot of time together from the Yorkshire academy days to the Test team now. Special to play with him.

Harsha Bhogle: The 8th largest run-chase in history has been a stroll in the park. Bat hasn't faced a challenge from the ball for the last 200 runs.

Biggest 1st inngs lead that ended up in a defeat for India
192 vs SL Galle 2015
132 vs Eng Edgbaston 2022
80 vs Aus Adelaide 1992
69 vs Aus Sydney 2008
Highest target successfully chased down vs India
378 Eng Edgbaston 2022
339 Aus Perth 1977
276 WI Delhi 1987
240 SA Johannesburg 2022
Highest target successfully chased down by England
378 vs Ind Edgabston 2022
359 vs Aus Leeds 2019
332 vs Aus Melbourne 1928/29
315 vs Aus Leeds 200

Pant's blinder. Jadeja's rearguard. Jimmy's fifer. Bumrah's pasting of Broad. England's opening stand. Everything's gone in vain. This Root-Bairstow stand has firmly, and truly buried those memories. Edgbaston-2022 is their game. India will be hurting. The fact that they could pick up just three wickets in a fourth innings, one of them to a changed ball and the other to a running mixup will hurt. They've been guilty of conceding some historic fourth innings chases in this new Dravid era -- twice in South Africa, and now here at Edgbaston, to throw away a series that was firmly in their pocket. Their bowling just got one-dimensional. And clueless. They surely could have gotten Jadeja to come round the wicket and attack more. Never mind, they were blown away mentally to a point of no return. Stick around, we'll have some long presentations tonight ..

12:02 Local Time, 11:02 GMT, 16:32 IST: Quick. Efficient. Fuss-less. Clinical. Stunningly dominant. 378 chased down. Who'd have thought! In 78 overs. Who'd have thought! With seven wickets in hand. Who'd have thought! By England no less. WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT! It's official, Bazball is real, and Jonny Bairstow is the true, blue McCullum successor. He has given up the gloves, he has reclaimed the middle-order, and he has truly become a beast. Joe Root isn't a run-machine for nothing. And together, they were unstoppable. They came together on the back of a collapse, with the Indians sensing blood, but just like that, the huntees became the hunters. Not one shot was played in anger. Not one shot was played in desperation. It was just clean positive batting, finding the gaps, and milking what was some pretty listless bowling. Their partnership: 269* in 315 balls. Yorkshire have taken over Warwickshire.

Jadeja to Root, 1 run, and in fitting fashion -- it's a reverse-sweep that does it. Miscued, but Root couldn't care any lesser. England couldn't care any lesser. It's rolling away, and England are roaring away to a 2-2

Jadeja to Root, no run, presses forward, covering the line to block it back down the pitch

Jadeja to Root, FOUR, reverse-sweeps from the rough now. Picks the length early, goes down quickly, and nails it past slip. England equal scores ..

Jadeja to Bairstow, 1 run, clears out his front leg and drives this from the rough down leg into the point region

The equation: 6 runs | 7 wickets | Two sessions.

Siraj to Bairstow, 1 run, around the ribs again, fended away into the leg-side

Siraj to Bairstow, no run, decent comeback this: sharp, quick bouncer, angling in and climbing up on Bairstow, who does well to sway out late

Siraj to Bairstow, FOUR, more bowling machine stuff -- a back of a length sitter around the chest, and Bairstow rides it nicely off his front foot to swat it away through mid-wicket

Siraj to Bairstow, FOUR, down the ground now. This is net batting, and Siraj is his bowling machine. Gets a pitched up delivery on the stumps, and absolutely smokes it straight back

Siraj to Bairstow, FOUR, short and wide outside off, Bairstow crashes this through point for four more. Within touching distance of an emphatic win!

Siraj to Root, 1 run, 250-run stand up as Root clips this through backward square leg for a single