Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly reckoned that injured left - arm quick Mitchell Starc's absence in the third Test against Australia which ended in a draw at Ranchi on Monday, resulted in the off - spinners from either side - - Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon - - failing to find much purchase from the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) Stadium track.
Ganguly felt that both the off - spinners failed to find the rough outside the off - stump which is often created by the left - arm bowlers.
India's Ashwin in his two innings returned figures of 2/185 bowling a combined 64 overs, while Australia' Lyon - - wrecker - in - chief in the first Test in Pune where he claimed career - best figures of 8/50 - - got just the wicket of a tired Cheteshwar Pujara in the first innings after the latter played the innings of his life, a classical 202 off 525 deliveries.
"Off - spinners did not get wickets here.
This is because Mitchell Starc was not there, so the rough outside off - stump was not created, " Ganguly told reporters.
Starc - - Australia's prime bowler - - was ruled out of the tour after playing the first two Tests due to a stress fracture in his right foot.
The third Test ended in a draw after the Australian pair of Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb stitched together a match - saving 124 - run stand for the fifth wicket in their second innings.
Replying to their first essay total of 451, India rode the brilliance of Pujara and stumper Wriddhiman Saha (117) to a mammoth 603/9 declared after taking a lead of 152.
"They (Marsh and Handscomb) played really well, " Ganguly said.
Ganguly did not want to read too much into Ashwin's low returns in this tie.
"He got wickets in the last match only. "
Ashwin returned with a match haul of 8/125 in the second Test played in Bengaluru.
The fourth and final rubber will be played in Dharamsala from Saturday with the series evenly poised at 1 - 1.
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