(BBC) – 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 paltry. The series, now level at 1-1, will be decided tomorrow.

England serve reminder of their power This was a stunning reminder of the exhilarating swagger that has made England the best one-day side in the world.
Just as in the series-opener, which India won by 66 runs, it was a clash of styles. Whereas India slowly built towards a late assault, England sprinted in the chase and, this time, got over the line. Before the pyrotechnics, left-arm seamer Reece Topley returned 2-50 from his eight overs, a standout performance in an otherwise battered attack. 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 absence 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.

Stokes and Bairstow lay waste to India 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.