Beaten fair and square in the seven-match one-day series, Indian cricket manager Lalchand Rajput said the Australians had to given credit for the kind of play they had displayed.

"I think we must compliment the Australians for the series win. They have been outstanding through the series," said Rajput on the eve of Wednesday’s final one-dayer at the Wankhede stadium.

The former Indian batsman, however, tried to find a silver lining in the comprehensive defeat. "But it is also a fact that only India can run the Aussies so close," he claimed.

Maintaining that it wasn't difficult to motivate the team even after the series had been decided, the former opener blamed India's inconsistency for the losses. "Consistency in each department of the game is very important.

Rarely have we clicked in all the depertments at the same time. If batting failed sometimes, bowlers let us down on other occasions. Fielding too wasn't up to mark in some matches. That's a very worrying factor. If you look at the Australians, they were consistent in every department of the game," he explained. Rajput was also concerned with the way Indians have struggled in the death overs.

On the failure of the Indian spinners to make much impact, Rajput felt the Australian batsmen had played adapted better compared to India’s problems against left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg. "They have adjusted and adapted well to the conditions here," he reasoned.

Refusing to reveal if the struggling Rahul Dravid would be rested on Wednesday, Rajput said the team would be decided later. The Mumbaikar strongly defended the move to send the Bangalorean at number four ahead of Robin Uthappa in Nagpur. "There were plenty of overs in the game and Dravid has batted well in such situations.

He is a top-class batsman and did really well in England too. He is struggling a bit now and not getting the starts. But he is capable of coming out of this bad form," he said.