After India’s five-wicket defeat to England in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds, former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin cited the team’s excessive reliance on pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah as a crucial factor in the loss. Azharuddin emphasised the need for a more balanced bowling attack and recommended including spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the second Test starting Wednesday at Edgbaston in Birmingham, where the dry surface could benefit the left-arm wrist spinner. “They are too much dependent on Bumrah. It’s not that easy because you need more experienced bowlers, and they should play Kuldeep Yadav,” Azharuddin was quoted as saying by PTI Videos from Hyderabad. Despite a strong start with a first-innings total of 471—thanks to centuries from Shubman Gill (147), Yashasvi Jaiswal (101), and Rishabh Pant (134)—India experienced a dramatic collapse, losing their last seven wickets for just 41 runs. This trend continued in the second innings as well. “We lost because of batting collapse, but anyways now they have to pick the right players and bowling has to be perfect,” Azhar noted. Azharuddin also defended debutant Test captain Shubman Gill, who faced scrutiny after the loss regarding his bowling changes during the game. “This is his just first match as a captain, you just can’t talk about captaincy, it’s too early to talk about captaincy,” he remarked, urging fans to give Gill time to grow into the role. “We should give him a fair chance and he has just taken over, so you should give him a lot of time and support also. We cannot just complain and criticise players like that,” he concluded. What Gambhir Said About Bumrah Playing All Tests? India coach Gautam Gambhir had confirmed that there are no plans to alter the workload of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah for the remainder of the Test series. Initially, it was decided that Bumrah would participate in only three of the five Tests in this ICC World Test Championship series to manage his back issue. According to Gambhir, India’s narrow five-wicket loss to England in the series opener has not prompted any changes to this plan. “For us, managing Bumrah’s workload is crucial because there’s a lot of cricket ahead and we know what he brings to the team,” said Gambhir. “Before this tour, it was agreed that he would play three Test matches, but we will monitor his condition. However, we haven’t yet decided which other two Test matches he will play,” he added. (With inputs from Agencies)