Joe Root says England 'felt in full control' as they achieved record-breaking chase against India
- Sean Fisher
- 5 July 2022
England made history on Tuesday by making a stunning chase of 378 against India to win the fifth Test at Edgbaston.
England won the fifth Test by seven wickets on Tuesday morning to level the series with India at 2-2.
Set a target of 378, hopes were low among the England faithful, but Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow both managed centuries during a stunning innings at Edgbaston to achieve a record-breaking feat.
The Yorkshire duo put on an unbeaten stand of 269 to reach the highest target ever achieved in English Test cricket history.
Root ended on 142 from 173, while Bairstow managed 114 for 145, with the duo hitting 34 fours and two sixes between them.
Well, it took a while but that was worth the wait 🔥
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 5, 2022
Thanks @BCCI for a brilliant series of Test cricket 👏
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/IRqUwT7apV
Having followed up their New Zealand success last month with a series-rescuing win in Birmingham, Root was delighted with the performance, and insisted he felt in "full control" alongside his Yorkshire teammate.
"It was pretty fun doing it," said Root.
"To be honest, throughout the whole summer since that first game, we've said whatever they get, we'll chase it down.
"Ben to us in the group before the toss said, 'We're not going to bat first, were going to chase', so it's sort of that mentality about how we're going about things at the minute.
"Once we got that partnership going, we just felt in full control."
Describe this partnership in one word __________ 🔥
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 5, 2022
🏴 #ENGvIND 🇮🇳
Root also piled praise onto England's openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees, who managed to set a sturdy foundation for the hosts with a combined 102.
"So much credit has to go to the two lads at the top," he added.
"The way they set the platform, the way they shifted pressure straight back on to India and smashed that new ball around on a wicket that was doing a bit was incredible batting.
"It really made the work that we had to do after that a lot easier, and they deserve a huge amount of credit because it was a sublime partnership, it really was, against a world-class attack."
