Allan Border joins Matthew Hayden with swipe at Pat Cummins over huge Virat Kohli mistake

Allan Border has joined Matthew Hayden and Mark Taylor in suggesting Pat Cummins allowed Virat Kohli to get himself back into form way too easily in the first Test, and it might cost Australia the series. Heading into the series opener in Perth, Kohli hadn't made a Test century in 18 months and there were serious question marks about his place in the India team.

But he silenced the haters with a magnificent century in the second innings as India won by 295 runs. As well as falling to a 1-0 deficit in the five-match series, the Aussies suffered the bigger blow of allowing Kohli to get his mojo back.

And Border, Hayden and Taylor have all pointed the finger at Cummins. The Australian captain didn't put nearly enough pressure on Kohli when he came to the crease, keeping the field spread with minimal catchers due to how far ahead the tourists were in the game.

It meant Kohli could build into his innings with ease and he went in to make 100 not out. Speaking on SEN radio on Friday morning, former Test skipper Border was critical of Cummins' field placements and captaincy when Kohli first came to the crease.

"I was really disappointed in the way we let Kohli roll on to a hundred without much resistance," Border said. "We don't want this guy full of confidence for the rest of the series."

Matthew Hayden critical of Pat Cummins' captaincy

Speaking on Channel 7 immediately after India's win, Hayden said: "They missed a few tricks with Virat Kohli in the early part of his innings. Nathan Lyon had mid-on back, one on the off-side catching and a mid-wicket. I felt like it was so easy for him to get off strike.

"You can't cut a sucker an even break when a bloke is under pressure as he was. The field we actually finished with - two slips, no point, a man straight - it offered up the outside edge of his bat as well. He found it a little more frustrating. When he got the bit between the teeth, it was too late.

"And that can be the same story also for the earlier partnership yesterday. A long time to explore the short ball options. Jaiswal looked vulnerable against it. Maybe tiny things with Pat Cummins, the ability to think through these decisions. They were shell-shocked from the average batting performance (in the first innings) and as we see now, again, bombs are going."

Australia need to achieve 27-year first to win series

And Taylor made similar comments on Triple M radio. Before the ton in Perth, the 36-year-old Kohli had only made two centuries in his last 60 Test innings. He scored just 93 runs at an average of 15.5 in India's recent 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand, but bounced back in a big way against Australia.

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With captain Rohit Sharma returning for the second Test and Kohli seemingly back to his dangerous best, the tourists are in the box seat to win a fifth-straight series against Australia. India have held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2018, and history is firmly against Australia.

You have to go back to 1997 to find the last time Australia won a Test series after losing the first game. On that occasion it was Taylor's team who lost by nine wickets in the first Ashes Test against England, before fighting back to win the series 3-2.