Jonny Bairstow led the scoring with a century while Ben Stokes plummeled the bowling for a quickfire 99 to lead England to a comprehensive six-wicket win in the second ODI match against India at Pune on Friday. The win levels the three-match series at 1-1, setting up a winner-takes-it-all finale for the third and final encounter on March 28. 

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Bairstow and Jason Roy gave the perfect start to England’s chase with their 13th century-stand as openers, a new record for England in ODIs, surpassing Eoin Morgan and Joe Root’s record of 12. 

Roy (55) was dismissed soon after notching his half-century, following a brilliant fielding effort from Rohit Sharma. However, Bairstow kept the momentum going along with Ben Stokes.

The duo went beserk in the middle overs, scoring 87 from five overs en route to their mammoth 175-run partnership for the second wicket. The two scored a combined 15 fours and 17 sixes. 

The momentum shifted back India’s way with three quick dismissals to remove Stokes (99), who was unfortunate to miss out on a well-deserved century, Bairstow (124) and skipper Jos Buttler (0).  

However, Dawid Malan (16) and Liam Livingstone (23) remained unbeaten to prevent an unlikely late collapse and saw out the win. 

Earlier, a scintillating ton from batsman KL Rahul and a quick-fire half-century from wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant helped India amass an imposing score of 336 for the loss of six. 

Rahul scored 108 runs from 114 deliveries, while half centuries from skipper Virat Kohli (66) and Pant (77) helped India recover after a stuttering start to the innings. 

India lost openers Shikhar Dhawan (4) and Rohit Sharma (25) early in the innings with Rahul and Kohli forging a 121-run partnership to steer the hosts out of trouble.

Rahul played second fiddle to his skipper for most of that partnership until spinner Adil Rashid denied Kohli the chance to notch his first century since August 14 against West Indies, trapping him leg before. 

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Rahul then stitched a 113-run partnership with Pant, setting the stage for India’s commanding total. He struck a total of seven boundries and two sixes in his innings. A late flourish from Pant and Hardik Pandya (35) gave India a strong finish, with the hosts adding 126 runs from the final 10 overs.