'Australia need Smith, Warner'
Captain Tim Paine admitted Sunday Australia badly needed the banned Steve Smith and David Warner back in the side after more woeful batting in the third Test against India.
Other than tailender Pat Cummins, no Australian passed 50 in the 137-run defeat in Melbourne, exposing their lack of depth, poor discipline and questionable technique.
The home team resumed Day Five at 258 for eight after the morning session was wiped out by rain in their unlikely quest to hunt down a huge 399, which would have been a record fourth-innings chase at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
But they fell well short of the target, with Jasprit Bumrah taking the key wicket of dogged Pat Cummins and Ishant Sharma snaring Nathan Lyon to secure the emphatic win.
Paine acknowledged that not having world-class batsmen was hindering their chances of competing with teams like India, ranked number one in the world.
"I think it's inexperience, it's pressure, India's bowling attack is probably as good as most of us have ever played," he said.
"I think it's pretty clear that if you take two or three of the best players out of anyone's line-up around the world, you're going to struggle a little bit at times and you are going to have inconsistent performances.
"The silver lining is that we do have world-class players that are available soon to come back into this side, and clearly when they do they will make a huge difference."
Smith and Warner's year-long suspensions for ball-tampering run out in late March.
Australia were skittled for 151 in their first innings reply to India's 443 for seven declared. That total was built on the back of Cheteshwar Pujara's patient 106 and Virat Kohli's restrained 82.
Aaron Finch again struggled at the top of the order, with his role as a Test opener under intense scrutiny with growing speculation that he will be axed for the next Test in Sydney this week.
Mitch Marsh also failed again with the bat, and fellow all-rounder Marnus Labuschagne has been added to the squad.
Paine wouldn't be drawn on what changes might be made.
SCORES IN BRIEF
INDIA: First innings 443 for 7 decl and second innings 106 for 8 decl.
AUSTRALIA: Fiirst innings 151 and second innings 261 all out (Khawaja 33, Marsh 44, Head 34, Paine 26, Cummins 63; Bumrah 3-53, Sharma 2-40, Jadeja 3-82, Shami 2-71)
Result: India won by 137 runs and lead four-match series 2-1.
Player-of-the-match: Jasprit Bumrah.
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