Edgbaston | "Form of his life" is one term that Jonny Bairstow is displaying at the moment for England. Right now Bairstow is batting on an auto-pilot mode and he is in no mood to stop. Be it any opposition, be it any ground or any condition, Jonny Bairstow makes sure that he bails England out of difficult conditions. Last year around, when India had toured England for their red ball series, the English batsmen especially Jonny Bairstow struggled against Jasprit Bumrah who is leading the Indian team in the fifth Test match that is being played at Edgbaston.
Courtesy of a 222 runs stand between Pant and Jadeja, India crossed the 400-run mark which was always going to be a challenge for the English side. The huge total did not bother England as their hopes were pinned on the in form Joe Root who scored two centuries in their Test series against New Zealand who toured the United Kingdom before India. The Indian pace battery came out all guns blazing and put the English batters into all kinds of difficulties.
With the likes of Zack Crawley, Alex Lees, and their man in form Joe Root gone, England sent out their nightwatchman Jack Leach as a defensive measure which did not last for too long. Jonny Bairstow joined skipper Stokes and both of them played extremely cautiously till the end of day 2's play.
The third day began in the same fashion with both Stokes and Bairstow being extremely cautious and watchful of Shami and Bumrah's spell. After some time, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Jonny Bairstow had some fiery verbal exchange and as a result, Jonny Bairstow took off and started tonking the ball to all corners of the park. The Punjab Kings veteran was not at all affected by the fall of skipper Stokes's wicket and smashed a ton which put his team into a better place.
When England chase in the second innings, Bairstow's batting prowess will determine, which way the match is going towards.
England Playing XI: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Sam Billings, Matty Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson
India Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
