Will the Indian think-tank press the panic button and make a few changes in desperation after the defeat in the first Test at Headingley on Tuesday? From the looks of it, coach Gautam Gambhir seems to have taken the blow on the chin and is determined to continue backing his players. “You win as a team and you lose as a team,” he said after the five-wicket defeat here. But there is no doubt that a couple of changes are on the cards for the second Test at Birmingham that begins on July 2. Here, too, the coach was non-committal about the line of thinking, saying that the “strategy and selection will depend on the type of pitch at Edgbaston”.

There is a week’s gap before the second Test, which gives Gambhir, captain Shubman Gill and chief selector Ajit Agarkar enough time to ponder the line of action. The biggest concern is how to manage Jasprit Bumrah’s workload, as Gambhir made it amply clear during the post-match media interaction on Tuesday that the bowling spearhead will play in only three Test matches in this series and will be rested for two.

Since the head coach has already cleared the air about Bumrah, and there are already reports that Bumrah might not play the Birmingham Test, it will be interesting to see the repercussions of resting him. There is no doubt that the Indian attack without Bumrah will lack sting and will struggle to take 20 wickets. So, the moot point is how the think-tank will find an adequate replacement for him.