BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom (AFP) — Cheteshwar Pujara’s typically gritty and unbeaten 50 left England facing a tough chase to beat India in the COVID-delayed fifth Test after Jonny Bairstow’s latest hundred delighted home fans at Edgbaston on Sunday.

India, 2-1 up in the five-match campaign and looking to complete just a fourth series win in England, were 125-3 in their second innings at stumps on the third day — a lead of 257 runs.

Pujara was exactly 50 not out, having reached the landmark in the last over of the day with a single off part-time spinner Joe Root.

He had faced 139 balls, including seven fours, with Rishabh Pant, fresh from his 146 in India’s first-innings 416, unbeaten on 30.

There have been only two successful fourth-innings chases in a Test at Edgbaston during the past 30 years, with South Africa making 283-5 in 2008 and England 211-3 against New Zealand in 1999.

But with England having made reached seemingly stiff targets of 277, 299 and 296 during a recent 3-0 whitewash of Test world champions New Zealand, the outcome of this match is far from guaranteed.

Earlier on Sunday, Bairstow’s third hundred in successive Tests was the cornerstone of England’s 284 that left the hosts 132 runs behind on first innings.

England resumed in the dire position of 84-5, with Bairstow 12 not out.

Yet such was his command he might have had a century before lunch but for rain stopping play 15 minutes before the scheduled interval.

England several times hit their way out of trouble during the New Zealand series — the so-called ‘Bazball’ approach named in honour of new Coach Brendon McCullum’s nickname.

Yet for all Bairstow’s blazing, if orthodox hitting, he gave himself time to adjust to the bowling and the conditions while making 16 not out off 65 balls. He then accelerated in scoring his next 84 runs off just 54 balls to get to three figures.

The 32-year-old’s fifth Test century of 2022 featured 14 fours and two sixes.

SCOREBOARD

India 1st Innings 416 (R Pant 146, R Jadeja

104; J Anderson 5-60)

England 1st Innings (overnight: 84-5)

A Lees b Bumrah 6

Z Crawley c Gill b Bumrah 9

O Pope c Iyer b Bumrah 10

J Root c Pant b Siraj 31

J Bairstow c Kohli b Shami 106

J Leach c Pant b Shami 0

B Stokes c Bumrah b Thakur 25

S Billings b Siraj 36

S Broad c Pant b Siraj 1

M Potts c Iyer b Siraj 19

J Anderson not out 6

Extras (b16, lb5, nb13, w1) 35

Total (all out, 61.3 overs, 320 mins) 284

Fall of wickets: 1-16 (Lees), 2-27 (Crawley),

3-44 (Pope), 4-78 (Root), 5-83 (Leach), 6-149

(Stokes), 7-241 (Bairstow), 8-248 (Broad),

9-267 (Billings), 10-284 (Potts)

Bowling: Bumrah 19-3-68-3 (6nb); Shami 22-

4-78-2 (1w); Siraj 11.3-2-66-4; Thakur 7-0-48-

1 (7nb); Jadeja 2-0-3-0;

India 2nd Innings

S Gill c Crawley b Anderson 4

C Pujara not out 50

H Vihari c Bairstow b Broad 11

V Kohli c Root b Stokes 20

R Pant not out 30

Extras (lb7, nb2, w1) 10

Total (3 wkts, 45 overs, 230 mins) 125

To bat: S Iyer, R Jadeja, S Thakur, Mohammed

Shami, J Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Gill), 2-43 (Vihari), 3-75

(Kohli)

Bowling: Anderson 14-5-26-1; Broad 12-1-38-

1 (1nb); Potts 8-2-20-0; Leach 1-0-5-0; Stokes

7-0-22-1 (1nb), Root 3-1-7-0

Match position: India lead by 257 runs with

seven second-innings wickets standing

Toss: England

Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK), Richard

Kettleborough (ENG)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: David Boon (AUS)