An unbelievable exhibition of six-hitting helped England record their highest successful run chase against India in ODIs.

Courtesy sensational batting from Jonny Bairstow (124) and Ben Stokes (99) and their whirlwind 175-run stand that came off just 117 balls, the visitors chased down the daunting target of 337 in the second ODI at the MCA Stadium in Pune with ridiculous ease, reaching home with six wickets in hand and as many as 6.3 overs to spare.

The series is all square now, the decider will be played on Sunday.

For the fifth time in a row over the last couple of weeks, England won the toss and opted to bowl. Once again, their bowlers leaked runs as the Indian innings progressed. After a scratchy start, captain Virat Kohli (66), KL Rahul (108) and Rishabh Pant (77) helped their side to a massive total of 336/6.

England had a stiffer task on this occasion and more so, in the absence of their regular captain Eoin Morgan. But Jason Roy (55), who finally avoided getting dismissed in the 40s, and Bairstow got themselves in first instead of trying to go all guns blazing from the onset.

The opening duo set the tone with their 110-run partnership before Rohit Sharma’s superb fielding resulted in Roy being run out. In walked Stokes, who hasn’t been having a great time of late on the field and was even warned for inadvertently applying saliva on the ball during the fourth over of the Indian innings.

But he chose this occasion to prove why he is so highly regarded in contemporary cricket. Looking at the fluency with which Stokes operated, chancing his arms only when the ball was in his slot, Bairstow too began to look even more intimidating.

The duo were savage on Kuldeep Yadav, who is terribly short on confidence, and Krunal Pandya, who certainly would like to forget this game as early as possible. The way they batted it appeared as if Bairstow and Stokes were practising six-hitting at nets. Of the 20 maximums in the England innings, Stokes alone hit 10 with Bairstow smashing seven.

Barring Bhuvneshwar Kumar and young Prasidh Krishna, all the other Indian bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Bairstow and Stokes. Bhuvneshwar picked up Stokes and Prasidh accounted for centurion Bairstow and stand-in captain Jos Buttler with a corker of a yorker. From 285/1 in the 36th over, England were all of a sudden 287/4 in over No. 37.

But despite the minor hiccup, the equation was still all too easy for England as Dawid Malan and ODI debutant Liam Livingstone comfortably took them home.

England’s performance on Friday justified their No.1 ranking in the ODIs. The game, however, also calls for a reality check for the Indian bowlers even though conditions became easier for batting in the second half.

Besides, Kohli probably missed a trick by not continuing with his quicks when England were four down. Instead, he brought back the two left-arm spinners, much to the relief of Malan and Livingstone.

For India early on, the man to lead the show was indeed Rahul, who “shut out the noise” with a resolute century after breaking the shackles with an unbeaten 62 the other day. The previous game had helped Rahul regain touch and form, and on Friday, he was the KL Rahul that India’s batting order relies on in white-ball cricket.

Thanks to Rahul, Pant and Hardik Pandya, India clobbered a massive 126 off the last 10 overs of their innings. But in the end, all that was outdone by Bairstow and Stokes.