'Lacklustre' Pujara kept Australia in the game: Ponting

Ricky Ponting says India's precarious position in the third Vodafone Test is in part down to their "lacklustre" batting effort, particularly that of senior player Cheteshwar Pujara.

While Pujara was India's equal top-scorer with 50 alongside rookie Shubman Gill, his runs came from 176 balls for a strike rate of just 28.41.

The go-slow approach by India's middle order backfired against a relentless Australian attack, who bowled out the visitors for 244 in 100.4 overs to take a 94-run lead that grew to 197 by stumps on day three, with eight wickets still in hand.

Ponting had India ahead after two days but after witnessing Pujara's stonewall innings on Saturday, he says the right-hander's defensive mindset kept Australia in the game.

"I think (Pujara) has got to be better than that," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"He's 16 off his first 100 balls with no boundaries. That is – and I don't care who you are – if you're at the other end and someone is batting like that, so much more pressure comes back on you because you know you have to be the one that's going to keep the scoreboard ticking over (and) trying to get some momentum going your way as a team.

"If you're going to play that way and bat that long, he's got to back himself to make sure he gets 100, 150 at least.

"To bat like he did today, finally get a great ball from (fast bowler Pat) Cummins, although he got 50, he just hadn't hurt the Australians at all.

"In fact, batting like he did actually kept Australia in the game.

"Although Pujara got the 50 that he got, he's as guilty as anyone for slack, lacklustre batting."

Pujara wasn't the only Indian batter to stay in his shell.

Captain Ajinkya Rahane scored 22 from 70 deliveries and No.5 Hanuma Vihari made four from 38 balls before he was sensationally run out by Australia quick Josh Hazlewood.

But Ponting says Hazlewood's miraculous run out was born out of the Indians scrambling for runs because the scoring had dried up.

"The run out was good but when you look at the batting around it, it was so poor," Ponting said.

"(Vihari) was four from 37 balls before that so the pressure was all on, and that's what led to him trying to take a single that was never there.

"Yes, it was a great piece of fielding, but he was out by three or four yards."

Cummins removed Pujara for the fourth time in a row in this series with a nasty delivery that leapt at the right-hander and took his glove through to wicketkeeper Tim Paine.

It means Pujara now has 113 runs at 22.60 this series with a strike rate of 27 runs per 100 balls faced, figures that are significantly down from the 521 runs at a strike rate of 41 he recorded two years ago on Australian soil.

Ponting says the issue is "absolutely intent" for Pujara, who has let the Australian bowlers dictate terms.

"We saw it even against Lyon in the back-half of his innings today, he started using his feet and hitting the ball through the field – he didn't do that for his first 120-130 balls," he said.

"You can't tell me it takes you that long to get in and get settled and work out what the wicket's playing like or what the bowlers are bowling like.

"He's got no cross-batted shots at all, he's got no pull shot, the Aussies are not feeding him on the cut shot.

"He's got to find a way to score quicker than that because that's not going to win his team any games.

"I know people will say 'he did the same thing out here last time' but he didn't.

"He batted for a long period of time but he scored a lot quicker than what he scored today."

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Thangarasu Natarajan

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT