San Francisco Frontiers - Gambhir backs India bowlers to 'deliver' despite first Test misery

India slumped to a dispiriting five-wicket defeat on Tuesday after they failed to stop England reaching a target of 371 in the 10th-highest run chase in Test history.

Ben Duckett scored a superb century and shared an opening stand of 188 with Zak Crawley, with India's Jasprit Bumrah -- the world's top-ranked Test bowler -- unable to take a wicket in England's second innings.

India have said they only plan to play Bumrah in three matches of this five-Test series against England, which continues at Edgbaston next week, in a bid to maintain his fitness following a back injury.

Gambhir insisted that was still the plan, even though India are now under pressure to get back into the series with a victory in Birmingham.

Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are the senior members of India's pace attack.

Prasidh Krishna and Nitish Kumar Reddy -- the latter left out at Headingley -- have just a handful of Test appearances behind them, with Arshdeep Singh yet to make his debut.

How India, without veteran seamer Mohammed Shami, missing from this tour following knee trouble, take the 20 wickets needed to win a Test remains an open question.

But Gambhir pleaded for patience by saying: "These are early days. If we start judging our bowlers after every Test, how will we develop a bowling attack?"

- 'We pick on trust, not hope' -

With India bidding for just their fourth Test series win in England after triumphs in 1971, 1986 and 2007, Gambhir added: "We believe in them. We trust in them.

"When we pick the squad, we pick the squad on trust, not on hope. These boys will deliver for us."

Batting collapses of 7-41 and 6-31 proved costly for India against England, with Gambhir's men in position to bat the hosts out of the game at 430-3 in their first innings before letting the advantage slip away.

In a match where they posted five individual hundreds, including two from Rishabh Pant, the fact their numbers eight to 11 managed just nine runs in total between them was a key factor in India's defeat.

"I think they are more disappointed than anyone," said Gambhir. "Because they knew that we had the opportunity.

"If we had got up to 570, 580 in the first innings, we could have dominated from there."

The result meant Shubman Gill suffered a defeat in his first Test as India captain since succeeding the retired Rohit Sharma.

Gill led from the front by top-scoring with 147 in India's first-innings 471, but he looked short of ideas in the field as England surged to victory.

It was just the sixth first-class match in which the 25-year-old Gill has captained a team and former India batsman Gambhir said: "I'm sure he's going to get better, and these are tough places to captain.

"So it's like pushing someone into the deep sea, and I'm sure he's going to come out as a proper professional."

P.Thomas--SFF