Pune : Jonny Bairstow struck a magnificent century and Ben Stokes a brutal 99 in an emphatic England chase of 337 to beat India in the second one-day international in Pune.
Stokes was simply awesome in cracking 10 sixes in his 52-ball stay, while the brilliant Bairstow made 124 from 112 deliveries.
Their second-wicket stand of 175 came at nine runs an over, completely decimating the India attack.
Even though England lost three wickets for two runs in nine balls, the chase – comfortably England’s highest in India and their fifth-best of all-time – was completed with 6.3 overs to spare.
It made India’s 336-6 – built on a measured 108 from KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant’s thrilling 77 – look meagre.
Dropped after making only 15 runs in four innings in the T20 series, Rahul returned to form with an unbeaten 62 in the first ODI and went further here.
Arriving in the ninth over at 39-2, he was required to steady with captain Virat Kohli, and their unhurried third-wicket stand yielded 121.
Kohli, dropped on 35 by wicketkeeper Buttler, seemed primed to end his 16-month wait for an international century until he edged a cut off Adil Rashid on 66.
The arrival of the electric Pant, in the side for the injured Shreyas Iyer, prompted Rahul to accelerate. When he reached his fifth ODI century, he celebrated by putting his fingers in his ears, later explaining it was to symbolise ignoring his critics.
Still, the real thrill came from the leg-side swiping of Pant, who smeared seven sixes. Hardik Pandya crashed 35 in a 16-ball cameo.
In all, India took 126 from the last 10 overs. This time, it was nowhere near enough.
But the punishment England’s bowlers received was nothing compared to the treatment dished out by Stokes and Bairstow, who used the excellent batting conditions to rain blow after blow into the empty stands.
Their stunning display made light of the absences of injured captain Eoin Morgan, fellow batsman Sam Billings and the rested Joe Root.
Then, when England wobbled, they were taken to victory by debutant Liam Livingstone and Dawid Malan, who had just one previous ODI cap between them.
Bairstow had already added 110 with Jason Roy in 16.3 overs, an opening stand that was only ended when Roy was run out for 55 in a mix-up sparked by Rohit Sharma’s superb swoop and throw.
Stokes himself was fortunate not to be run out on 33 as he strolled a second run. When Kuldeep Yadav’s throw from the deep hit direct, there was little evidence to suggest Stokes had his bat beyond the crease line, yet the third umpire ruled in his favour.
It was spinner Kuldeep who then took the brunt of the Stokes assault, hit for three successive sixes as the left-hander moved from 50 to 99 in only 11 balls.
Somehow he overshadowed Bairstow, who played a number of glorious lofted on-drives in his 11th ODI century.
When Stokes edged a bouncer from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he missed out on the third-fastest century by an England player in ODIs. In the next over, Bairstow hit Prasidh Krishna to extra cover and stand-in captain Jos Buttler was bowled by yorker.
However, any notion of pressure was dismissed by the audacity of Livingstone, whose back-to-back sixes off Bhuvneshwar took England’s total number of maximums to 20.
The series, now level at 1-1, will be decided on Sunday.
