Pat Cummins forced into 'embarrassing' move as Aussie cricket great rips 'unacceptable' scenes

Australian cricket great Greg Blewett has ripped Pat Cummins and the Aussie team for their 'unacceptable' body language on a tough and gruelling day against India in the first Test. The tourists went to stumps on day two at 0-172, holding a lead of 218 after bowling out Australia for just 104.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (90 not out) and KL Rahul (62 not out) made the Aussies toil for two entire sessions without a wicket, and put India in a commanding position to take a 1-0 lead. With the pitch flattening out and providing far less assistance to the bowlers, Australia's front-line attack of Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon had no luck on Saturday.

It sparked extraordinary scenes as Cummins threw the ball to Marnus Labuschange for an over before tea, and one more before stumps. Labuschagne has shown himself to be a handy leg-spinner, but has switched to bowling seam-up.

He even managed to hit 135km/h with his pacers, but didn't do much to trouble the India batters. The change of tactic was worth a try from Cummins, but some cricket fans labelled it 'embarrassing' that Labuschagne was given the ball on just the second day of the Test.

And Blewett felt the Aussies let themselves down with how they went about things in the lead-up to tea. "That hour leading into tea, I thought they looked like they were going through the motions, it's unacceptable really," Blewett said in commentary for Channel 7. "It's day two of an important series, Australia-India."

However Australia coach Andrew McDonald was blunt when asked on whether he agreed with Blewett's assessment. "I didn't notice the body language at all," he said.

Aussie coach dismisses concerns over bowling workloads

Unless the Aussies can make some quick in-roads on Sunday, Cummins might have to lean on Labuschagne and some other part-timers even more. Cummins bowled 13 overs on Saturday, while Starc sent down 12 and Hazlewood 10.

With a long five-Test series just kicking off, there might be some concerns about putting too much load on the star fast bowlers' legs so early. But McDonald said: "No real concerns. I think the shortened first innings (when India were bowled out for 150 in 49.4 overs) alleviates a lot of that.

"There'll be management into that second new ball, making sure that we've got the energy for that. That's our opportunity, our entry point into the game. We've got a little bit of work to do before then. If we can pick up a few (wickets) into that second new ball, that gives us the opportunity. So that's where our minds are at this stage."

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Yashasvi Jaiswal puts Aussie bowlers to the sword

The pitch in Perth appeared unplayable at times on the first day, but flattened out just at the right time for India in their second innings. "The surface looked considerably drier (on day two), it dried out fairly quickly," McDonald said. "We thought there may have been a little bit more there.

"So yeah, I suppose if you want to say that we were a little bit surprised (that would be correct). There wasn't as much seam movement or swing, and I think the bowlers were presenting the seam in a similar fashion to they were on day one. So I think the conditions may have had some say in that."

The 22-year-old Jaiswal showed why he's regarded as the best young talent in world cricket as he appeared completely untroubled by Australia's vaunted attack. At one stage he even told Starc "you're coming too slow" in a cutting sledge for his veteran opponent.