Kolkata, March 20 (CRICKETNMORE): 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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"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. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"They (Marsh and Handscomb) played really well," Ganguly said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Ganguly did not want to read too much into Ashwin's low returns in this tie.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"He got wickets in the last match only."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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.<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2017\/03\/mitchell-starc48.jpg", "alt_img": "Starc's absence cost off-spinners wickets, feels Sourav Ganguly", "alt_title": "Starc's absence cost off-spinners wickets, feels Sourav Ganguly", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Starc's absence cost off-spinners wickets, feels Sourav Ganguly", "seo_desc": "Starc's absence cost off-spinners wickets, feels Sourav GangulyKolkata, March 20 (CRICKETNMORE): Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly reckoned that injured left-", "seo_keywords": "Sourav Ganguly, Jharkhand State Cricket Association", "tag": "", "tagging": "", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "0", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "starc-s-absence-cost-off-spinners-wickets-feels-ganguly", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "2826", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "0", "auto_link": "0", "created": "2017-03-20 23:31:00", "updated": "2017-03-20 23:31:00", "img_from": "", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": null, "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2017-03-20 23:31:00", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2017-03-20 23:31:00", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/starc-s-absence-cost-off-spinners-wickets-feels-ganguly-24920" }