India’s five-wicket loss to England in the opening Test at Headingley has sparked strong reactions, especially from senior pacer Mohammed Shami. While Jasprit Bumrah led the bowling attack with a brilliant five-wicket haul in the first innings, the rest of the bowling unit faltered, allowing England to chase down 371 — their second-highest successful fourth-innings chase in Test history. Despite India posting five individual centuries across both innings, the bowlers failed to capitalize on a pace-friendly surface.

This defeat marked a disappointing start for India in the new cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC). Although Bumrah finished with 5/83 in the first innings, the second innings saw England openers Ben Duckett (149) and Zak Crawley (65) neutralize his threat and then dominate the other bowlers. Mohammed Siraj struggled to translate his efforts into breakthroughs, while Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna appeared ineffective. Ravindra Jadeja, too, was unable to pose a consistent challenge to the English batters.

Watching from the sidelines due to injury, Shami didn’t hold back in his analysis. On his YouTube channel, he 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 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." His comments clearly signalled the need for better planning and execution from the rest of the bowling group.

"Support Bumrah and take early wickets"

Shami further emphasized the importance of taking early wickets, especially with the new ball. Referring to the second innings, where Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna picked up two wickets each, Shami pointed out that the damage had already been done by then. "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. It is very important to take wickets with the new ball. They must 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," he said.

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Interestingly, Siraj was not brought into the attack between overs 42 and 80 on Day 5, despite showing promise early on. Arshdeep Singh, who had performed well in county cricket, was left out of the squad altogether. With a week’s break before the second Test, the Indian team will be aiming to reassess their bowling approach and come back stronger in the remaining matches of the five-Test series.