Mohammed Shami, who is not part of the England tour, gave a brutal but honest review after India's defeat in the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds. Shami expressed that other bowlers should step up and support Jasprit Bumrah, who has lately emerged as the team's crisis man.
The English batters were cautious while facing Bumrah in the second innings and he ended up wicketless. This was after he registered his 14th five-wicket haul in the first innings. India are currently behind in the series as other bowlers failed to apply enough pressure on England in both innings, making it impossible to defend the 371-run target.
"In bowling, other Indian bowlers should talk to Bumrah and learn from him. They should talk about planning with him and support him. If they will support Bumrah, then we can easily win the match. If I talk about the first match, then I think we need to do a little work in the bowling," Shami said on his YouTube channel.
"Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna picked up two wickets each in the second innings, but by the time Shardul dismissed two England batters, the match was out of India’s reach," he added.
The 34-year-old lauded India's efforts with the bat and said it is on level with England, before repeating that in order to win games the bowlers must back Bumrah. "Everyone says that batting in England is difficult, but our batters are doing fine, and we need to think more about bowling and fielding. Bumrah ka saath dena hoga. It is very important to take wickets with the new ball. Bhut zaruri hai ki Bumrah ka koi saath de. England won the first Test because we gave too many easy runs. We need to find out how to make our bowling side strong." he added.
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