It was one odd game... but we were not brave, did not apply ourselves: Rohit

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Friday said his team was not brave and lacked application in the third Test against Australia here but described the ninewicket hammering as one odd gameTrailing 02 in the series and having conceded the BorderGavaskar trophy Australia fought back strongly to record a memorable win and secure their place in the World Test Championship WTC final on a rank turner at the Holkar StadiumWhen you are playing on challenging pitches you have to bowl We allowed their bowlers to bowl in one spot Not to take any credit away from their bowlers Nathan Lyon especially We had to try and be brave which I think we were not Rohit said at the presentation ceremonyLyon returned excellent figures of 864 in Indias second innings to pave the way for Australias victoryOne odd game can happen like that where things dont come together but even then you need players to come together and chip inWe wanted a few guys to stand up but it didnt happen We were slightly behind and we did not apply ourselves the way we would have liked to he addedRohit and Co have not started thinking about the fourth Test in Ahmedabad but he said the team will need to quickly regroup after the heavy defeatWhen you lose a Test match theres a lot of things that didnt go our way To start with we didnt bat well in the first innings We understand how important it is to put runs on the board in the first inningsAnd obviously when they got a 8090 run lead we needed to put in a big performance with the bat but we couldnt do thatHonestly we havent thought about it Ahmedabad Test yet We just finished this Test now so we need to regroup and try We need to understand that we need to improve as a teamThe hosts were bowled out for 163 in their second innings leaving Australia with a target of just 76 runsOne of the biggest architects of the Australian win is seasoned offspinner Nathan Lyon who grabbed eight wickets in the Indian second innings on day two of the matchAlso readBorderGavaskar Trophy Serve Shubman Gill for startersOur bowlers did really well especially Matthew Kuhnemann All our bowlers contributed With the bat Usman Khwaja was really good in the first innings We had some good partnerships Australias standin skipper Steve Smith said when asked on what he would attribute the win toIndia bowled really well in the back end we had a bit of a collapse We had to toil hard yesterday Pujji Pujara played a good knock but all our bowlers did really well It was a complete performance in the endSmith is standing in for regular captain Pat Cummins who had to fly back home after the second Test to be with his ailing motherWe are thinking of Patty back home our thoughts are with him But I really enjoyed this week I like captaining in this part of the world I think I understand a lot of the intricaciesIts a place where I really enjoy and I think I did a reasonable job this week The approach will be much the same We have to see how the conditions are like Its good to be in the WTC final but its just about playing good cricketMan of the Match Lyon was at his best as he spun a web around the Indian batters on the second day which tilted the match in Australias favourThe seasoned offspinner said his belief in his stock ball helped him a lotIts been a pretty remarkable series But to come out here and put out a good team performance it was pretty special I dont have all the skills and all the tricks in the trade but the one thing I have is the belief in my stock ball And I think if you have that you can get successI dont think Ive mastered it Ive been lucky enough to challenge against some of the best players to play the game the likes of Virat and Pujji and the rest of the guys I just like challenging myself Lyon saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever