England Vs India 5th Test: Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow set the tone for a historic chase on day 4 

England is just 119 runs away from victory with seven wickets in hand. On top of that, Joe Root and Johnny Bairstow are well settled on unbeaten scores of 72 and 73, close to their respective century. 

Skipper Ben Stokes shines with the ball to take a four-wicket haul

It was a day dominated by England, from taking quick wickets of India's bottom order to an aggressive opening from England openers. Rishabh Pant and Cheteshwar Pujara resumed the innings for India; however, Stuart Broad found the wicket of Pujara on the third ball of the morning itself. England kept their game simple to take Shreyas Iyer off a short ball. Jack Leach took the crucial one in the form of Rishabh Pant (57) to break the backbone of the current Indian team. After his dismissal, the rest of the line-up could barely add 47 runs to expand their overnight lead from 257 to 378. 

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow powered England's dream

In response to the target of 378, England openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley gave a solid start to the inning as the duo built a 107-run opening stand. Once again, Jasprit Bumrah came to the rescue with the breakthrough wicket of Zak Crawley, followed by Ollie Pope (0). At the same time, Alex Lees lost his wicket in a terrible mix-up run-out with Joe Root as Alex Lees failed to hear the call from Root amidst the chaos in the stadium. Soon England got reduced from 107/0 to 109/3. However, this was followed by a terrific unbeaten 150-run stand between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, as both the batters played a classy knock to reach their fifties with a decent strike rate. Among Indian bowlers, only Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were good with the ball, whereas Mohammed Siraj was highly expensive with an economy of 6.40 in test cricket.  

England needs 119 runs in 100 overs with seven wickets in hand to defeat India in this match and draw the series to 2-2. Though England looks to be on the top now, India will look to break this stand as early as possible on the final day. India will have a lot to ponder upon, from poor shot selection by batters to the challenge bowlers posed in scalping wickets on this pitch. The final day would be a cracking contest if Indian bowlers could find the early wickets.