(REUTERS) – AUSTRALIA captain Tim Paine praised India’s bowling attack for securing victory in the third test on Sunday, but believes the result could have been different had Steve Smith and David Warner been available for the home side in Melbourne.

A rebuilding Australia slumped to a 137-run defeat to fall 2-1 behind in the four-match series after their batsmen surrendered meekly for 151 in the first innings and 261 in the second at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

India, by contrast, declared both times they batted before setting Australia a daunting victory target of 399 runs.

Comfortably the side’s leading test batsmen, former skipper Smith and Warner still have three months to serve of year-long bans for ball-tampering against South Africa in March, a scandal that dragged Australia’s reputation through the mud.

Opener Cameron Bancroft, the third player sanctioned for the Cape Town incident, has just become eligible for international cricket after his nine-month suspension expired on Saturday.

“If you take two or three of the best players out of anyone’s lineup, you’re going to struggle a little bit at times and you’re going to have inconsistent performances and that’s what we’re seeing,” wicketkeeper Paine told reporters.
“If you took (Cheteshwar) Pujara and Virat (Kohli) out of India’s side, I think you’d have the same conversation.

“If you’ve got world class players that aren’t in the team… Are they going to add to our team? I think they will.
“Whilst at the moment it’s challenging and everyone’s frustrated, it is what it is and everyone’s working as hard as they possibly can, and we’re getting guys getting experience in high pressure situations and learning on the job.

“The silver lining is that we have got world class players that are available soon to come back into this side and clearly when they do it will make a difference.”

LACK OF EXPERIENCE
India number three Pujara, who scored 123 in the first test in Adelaide and 106 in the first innings in Melbourne, leads all scorers for the series with 328 at an average 54.66, ahead of Kohli’s 259.

Travis Head, with 217 runs, is the sole Australian batsman in the top-five on the list and also the only one with an average higher than 30 for the series, which concludes with the fourth and final test in Sydney starting on Thursday.

Not one Australian has managed to secure a century so far and tail-ender Pat Cummins’s 63 was the highest score by the home side in Melbourne, an embarrassment for his top-order team mates.

Paine felt it understandable his makeshift batting lineup would struggle at the MCG against India’s formidable pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, with wily left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja added to the mix.

“I think it’s inexperience, it’s pressure, it’s India’s bowling attack (who) are as good as probably most of these guys have ever faced,” the skipper added of Australia’s batting woes.

“I think it’s pretty common that you will see that when you’ve got inexperienced players playing in your top six against high quality bowling.”

India 1st innings
Hanuma Vihari c Aaron Finch b Pat Cummins 8
Mayank Agarwal c Tim Paine b Pat Cummins 76
Cheteshwar Pujara b Pat Cummins 106
Virat Kohli c Aaron Finch b Mitchell Starc 82
Ajinkya Rahane lbw Nathan Lyon 34
Rohit Sharma Not Out 63
Rishabh Pant c Usman Khawaja b Mitchell Starc 39
Ravindra Jadeja c Tim Paine b Josh Hazlewood 4
Extras 15b 14lb 1nb 0pen 1w 31
Total (169.4 overs) 443 decl

Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Mitchell Starc 28 7 87 2 3.11
Josh Hazlewood 31.4 10 86 1 2.72
Nathan Lyon 48 7 110 1 2.29
Pat Cummins 34 10 72 3 2.12
Mitchell Marsh 26 4 51 0 1.96 1w 1nb
Aaron Finch 2 0 8 0 4.00

………………………………………………………
Australia 1st innings
Marcus Harris c Ishant Sharma b Jasprit Bumrah 22
Aaron Finch c Mayank Agarwal b Ishant Sharma 8
Usman Khawaja c Mayank Agarwal b Ravindra Jadeja 21
Shaun Marsh lbw Jasprit Bumrah 19
Travis Head b Jasprit Bumrah 20
Mitchell Marsh c Ajinkya Rahane b Ravindra Jadeja 9
Tim Paine c Rishabh Pant b Jasprit Bumrah 22
Pat Cummins b Mohammed Shami 17
Mitchell Starc Not Out 7
Nathan Lyon lbw Jasprit Bumrah 0
Josh Hazlewood b Jasprit Bumrah 0
Extras 4b 0lb 1nb 0pen 1w 6
Total (66.5 overs) 151 all out

Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Ishant Sharma 13 2 41 1 3.15 1w 1nb
Jasprit Bumrah 15.5 4 33 6 2.08
Ravindra Jadeja 25 8 45 2 1.80
Mohammed Shami 10 2 27 1 2.70
Hanuma Vihari 3 2 1 0 0.33

…………………………………………………..
India 2nd innings
Hanuma Vihari c Usman Khawaja b Pat Cummins 13
Mayank Agarwal b Pat Cummins 42
Cheteshwar Pujara c Marcus Harris b Pat Cummins 0
Virat Kohli c Marcus Harris b Pat Cummins 0
Ajinkya Rahane c Tim Paine b Pat Cummins 1
Rohit Sharma c Shaun Marsh b Josh Hazlewood 5
Rishabh Pant c Tim Paine b Josh Hazlewood 33
Ravindra Jadeja c Usman Khawaja b Pat Cummins 5
Mohammed Shami Not Out 0
Extras 5b 1lb 0nb 0pen 1w 7
Total (37.3 overs) 106 decl

Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Mitchell Starc 3 1 11 0 3.67
Josh Hazlewood 10.3 3 22 2 2.10
Nathan Lyon 13 1 40 0 3.08
Pat Cummins 11 3 27 6 2.45 1w

………………………………………………………..
Australia 2nd innings
Marcus Harris c Mayank Agarwal b Ravindra Jadeja 13
Aaron Finch c Virat Kohli b Jasprit Bumrah 3
Usman Khawaja lbw Mohammed Shami 33
Shaun Marsh lbw Jasprit Bumrah 44
Travis Head b Ishant Sharma 34
Mitchell Marsh c Virat Kohli b Ravindra Jadeja 10
Tim Paine c Rishabh Pant b Ravindra Jadeja 26
Pat Cummins c Cheteshwar Pujara b Jasprit Bumrah 63
Mitchell Starc b Mohammed Shami 18
Nathan Lyon c Rishabh Pant b Ishant Sharma 7
Josh Hazlewood Not Out 0
Extras 2b 6lb 0nb 0pen 2w 10
Total (89.3 overs) 261 all out

Bowling Ov Md Rn Wk Econ Ex
Ishant Sharma 14.3 1 40 2 2.76
Jasprit Bumrah 19 3 53 3 2.79 2w
Ravindra Jadeja 32 6 82 3 2.56
Mohammed Shami 21 2 71 2 3.38
Hanuma Vihari 3 1 7 0 2.33