India’s pathetic bowling is sure to open up the Nitish Kumar Reddy debate as they go into the second Test at Edgbaston next week.

The lower-order collapses — 13 wickets were lost for 72 runs across two innings at Headingley — will also make a strong case for the Andhra all-rounder and the limited role Shardul Thakur played with the ball. He was used for just 16 overs in the Test and lacked both control and insight.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir trusts the rest of the attack to pick up 20 wickets, but also asked for some patience with an inexperienced unit in a team in transition.

“This bowling attack has one bowler with five Tests under his belt (Reddy), one
has four (Prasidh Krishna), one has played two (Harshit Rana) and one hasn’t yet debuted (Arshdeep Singh),” Gambhir said.

Prasidh has come under scrutiny for an economy rate in excess of a-run-a-ball
in each innings at Headingley and never seemed to be able to make an impact. But does the attack have it in them to pick 20 wickets in a Test when Jasprit Bumrah wouldn’t be available?

“We will have to give them time,” Gambhir said. “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 a long time in Test cricket.”

The head coach avoided picking holes in the attack.

“I think Prasidh bowled really well,” he said. “He got us crucial wickets. We picked him because we thought he’s got something different. He’s got that bounce, and in the first innings, he used that bounce really well... even in the second innings.

“He’ll keep getting better with experience. He’s got all the ingredients of being a very good bowler, best bowler, which he had shown in Australia in Sydney and
here as well. That’s why I
said that we’ll keep backing these boys.”