India has had a rough start to the five-match Test tour of England after a five-wicket defeat to the hosts in the opener at Headingley, where they comfortably chased down a target of 371 in the second innings.
Despite having five different centurions in the game, India's bowling and fielding performances let them down big time in the match. England took full advantage of the mistakes and a 1-0 lead in the series as well.
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Jasprit Bumrah, however, was the only standout performer for India with the ball, as he picked up five wickets in the first innings. The English batters took a more cautious approach against him in the second innings, which saw him remain wicketless.
The rest of the bowling lineup didn't seem to cause many problems for the English batters as they continued to leak runs from the other end, which eased the pressure that Bumrah built up.
It is clear - Bumrah needs support for India to have any chance of winning the Test series, a point which has been echoed by Mohammed Shami's words, who was not picked for the series.
READ MORE: Bumrah ruled out for 2nd Test at Edgbaston
What did Mohammed Shami say?
The Indian pacer, who had been left out of the squad for the series, had a blunt message for the Indian bowlers ahead of the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Shami said that the other bowlers in the squad need to talk to Bumrah, plan with him, and provide maximum support in order to increase India's chances of winning the game. Check out the video below.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Shami said, "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."
The pacer further acknowledged the efforts of Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, but wants them to be a little more reactive as per the circumstances.
"Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna picked up two wickets each in the 2nd innings, but by the time Shardul dismissed two England batters, the match was out of India’s reach."
Check: IND vs ENG 2nd Test: Should India be concerned about Jadeja's recent Test form?
He acknowledged the contribution of the five centurions, who had put India in the driving seat before Day 5's play.
Shami is not worried about India's batting but fielding, bowling are a concern
"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 (We need to support Bumrah)," Shami added.
He further talked about the dropped catches of Yashasvi Jaiswal early on in the first innings, which gave the English batters the opportunity to exploit the mistakes and take the game away from India.
Shami also mentioned that the opening stand of more than 100 runs by Zack Crawley and Ben Duckett proved to be decisive in the second innings.
If Gen Z want to understand how excessively dependent we were on Sachin in the 90s, just think Bumrah now but in batting.
— Abijit Ganguly (@AbijitG) June 24, 2025
"It is very important to take wickets with the new ball. Bhut zaruri hai ki Bumrah ka koi saath de (Its very important for someone to support Bumrah). England won the first Test because we gave too many easy runs. We need to find out how to make our bowling side strong," Shami concluded.
With Bumrah more or less out for the second Test as things stand, it will be interesting to see if Arshdeep Singh is handed his Test debut on July 2. Mohammed Siraj will be expected to lead the bowling attack in this case as India look to level the series and regain momentum.