Australian pacer Ryan Harris on Sunday expressed disappointment at his team's "below standard" fielding but heaped praise on Indian batsmen, in particular Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli, for their performance on day three of the third cricket Test in Melbourne.
Australia dropped three simple catches and had several lapses in their fielding on Sunday as the Indian batsmen made good use of the situation, ending the day on 462/8 after Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane put on a record 262 runs for the fourth wicket in reply to Australia's first innings total of 530 runs.
"If we had taken our chances it could have been totally different. We have got pretty high standards with our fielding and that was pretty disappointing the way we fielded on Sunday. No one means to drop catches but that was well below standards," Harris told reporters.
"As a group we bowled pretty well, first hour was good, second hour was not so good. Then we had that new ball and we created those chances and you can't give batsmen like Rahane and Kohli second chances because they do what they did today.
"They played well this whole series. Their intent has been really good and they have come out and scored runs at good rates. If people are saying Test cricket is not that exciting they should be watching this series. Rahane scored 50-odd off 40-odd balls and he played some good shots. Credit goes to the Indian batsmen.
"They batted pretty well to be able to score that many runs on the day. But the fact they are eight wickets down leading into tomorrow and we got Kohli in the end was a big wicket. The quicker we get them in the morning the better and hopefully we will have a bit of a lead," said Harris.
The 35-year-old pacer picked up 4-69 on the day to peg the Indian batting back before Rahane and Kohli scored career-best knocks of 147 and 169 runs respectively, putting on a record 262 runs for the 4th wicket.
"It's a pretty flat wicket. We were trying to be aggressive but they batted pretty well. We did what we thought at the time was best and you have to give credit to them. Some plans worked, some plans didn't. It could have been a totally different day but at the end of the day it's not," he said.
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