Pat Cummins fires back at Indian legend amid storm around comments from Josh Hazlewood

Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins has rubbished suggestions the playing group is divided after India dominated the first Test in Perth. The Aussie top order crumbled in the first Test, leading to calls to bring in some fresh blood.

The pressure on the team, in particular the batsmen, was then compounded by Josh Hazlewood's comments at the close of play on Sunday, where he appeared to pin all the blame on the batters. The Aussie fast bowler was clearly frustrated after one of the worst days for Australia in a home Test in recent memory as Yashasvi Jaiswal's stunning 161 and Virat Kohli's unbeaten century saw India cruise to an insurmountable 6-487 before declaring with a lead of 534.

When asked about where the Aussies need to go after the dismal performance on Sunday, Hazlewood replied: “You probably have to ask one of the batters that question probably, I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of treatment and I’m looking mostly to next Test." It was an answer that underlined the frustrations of the bowling unit and pointed to a disconnect between the batters and bowlers.

It led to Australian cricket great Adam Gilchrist to question whether cracks had begun to appear behind closed doors and that there may be a "divide" in the playing group. Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri said Hazlewood's comments showcased there were "mental cracks" in the Aussie team and said the Indian side will be feeling confident that they can now run away with the series.

"Having come to Australia for 30 or 40 years, this is the first time an Indian team is feeling, ‘you know what, we are better than the opposition in their own backyard’," Shastri said. “Quietly they will be thinking ‘we will have to lose it here’."

Pat Cummins insists Australian team is "really tight"

But Cummins insists Australia remain as tight as ever despite offering barely a whimper as they were demolished by India to find themselves down 1-0 down in the five-Test battle for the Border-Gavaskar series. "There's plenty of times where the batters have dragged us bowlers out of tight situations and we've done the same," the Australian captain said.

"It's probably one of the tightest teams I've ever played with. We really enjoy playing cricket together. We've been through a lot the last few years, the core group. So no problems there. Everyone gets along really well, so all good."

The Test skipper also came to the defence of under fire batsman Marnus Labuschagne, backing him to turn things around. Labuschagne's struggles in Australia's 295-run loss to India at Optus Stadium was one of the major talking points of the Border-Gavaskar series opener.

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Pat Cummins has faith Marnus Labuschagne can bounce back

The 30-year-old is averaging just 30.28 in Test cricket since February last year. And a look at his last 10 innings shows just how badly out of form he is. Labushcagne has scored 10, 1 not out, 3, 5, 1, 2, 90, 6, 2 and 3 for an average of just 13.66 across that period.

"Marnus, along with quite a few guys in the team, didn't have the week that we would have wanted," Cummins conceded. "It's no secret how hard the batters, particularly Marnus, works in the nets, and he's always trying to find those small marginal gains.

"So this week there will be a lot of conversation with the coaches around maybe his approach and what he could be doing differently. We know he's a class player. Him at his best is one of the scariest propositions for opposition bowlers to bowl at."

But the Aussie skipper is confident the bright lights of Adelaide will see Labuschagne return to form. "He's got a very good pink ball record," Cummins said. "So I always think it's looking back at past successes when you were at your best is always a pretty good way to get yourself back on track."

with AAP