\nKolkata, 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.\n<\/p>\r\n
\nGanguly 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
\nIndia'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
\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
\nStarc -- 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
\nThe 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
\nReplying 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
\n\"They (Marsh and Handscomb) played really well,\" Ganguly said.<\/p>\r\n
\nGanguly did not want to read too much into Ashwin's low returns in this tie.<\/p>\r\n
\n\"He got wickets in the last match only.\"<\/p>\r\n
\nAshwin 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
\nSource - Agency<\/p>\r\n
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