&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "IND vs ENG: 'Experience matters,' acknowledges coach Gambhir but call for patience with pacers after Headingley drubbing")
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has called for patience with India pacers apart from Jasprit Bumrah after drubbing against England in first Test at Headingley. The hosts chased down 371-run target including 350 on the final day (Jun 24) with five wickets and one hour (roughly 15 overs) spare. Bumrah, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the first innings, also proved to be ineffective against England batters, especially openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley who added record 188 runs for the first wicket in fourth innings of the Test. With Bumrah not able to take wickets, Indian pacers look toothless and took only four wickets - two each for Parisdh Krishna and Shardul Thakur - while Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah were wicketless.
"We will have to give them time," Gambhir said on pacers' performance. "Earlier, we used to have four fast bowlers in the squad with an experience of more than 40 Tests. It doesn't make such a big impact in one-day or T20 matches, but when you go to Australia, England, or South Africa for Tests, experience matters.
"These are early days. If we start judging our bowlers after every Test, how will we develop a bowling attack? Outside Bumrah and [Mohammad] Siraj, we don't have that much experience, but they [the others] have quality, which is why they are in this dressing room. But we have got to keep backing them because it's not about one tour. It's about building a fast-bowler battery that can serve India for long time in Test cricket," he added.
It is not just the second innings that showed worrying signs for India, in the first innings too only Bumrah was class apart with 5/83 while other pacers took 5/188. In the first innings, Siraj took 2/122 while Krishna managed 3/128 and Shardul was 0/38 in six overs he bowled.
