India's run-rate tactics queried

Former Australia leadership duo Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin have criticised India's go-slow approach in the middle session on day two of the fourth Test in Dharamsala.

But India opener KL Rahul said it was Australia's impeccable bowling and not a tactical error on the hosts' behalf for the sporadic scoring prior to tea.

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Clarke, in his role as a Star Sports commentator, slammed India's senior batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane for scoring only 13 runs from the final 10 overs of the afternoon session.

India entered tea at 2-153 still trailing Australia by 147 runs and Clarke said it was in that period before the second interval that could come back to bite them.

"If India do lose this Test match, I'll tell you where they lost it – it's 30 minutes before tea today, on day two," Clarke said.

"It was so negative with their batting.

"Australia bowled spin from both ends, (India's batsmen) sat on the crease and blocked and blocked and blocked.

"If you sit there to someone like Nathan Lyon who does get that extra bounce, and can get the variation, you'll get one with your name on it.

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"Now they've lost quick wickets (and by) not playing the extra batsman, they're under enormous pressure.

"If India can't get a decent total in this first innings, batting last here is going to be extremely tough chasing 200 runs."

Clarke's point was underlined as Lyon snared the wickets of Pujara and Rahane, with both batsmen caught by close-in fielders around the bat.

Pujara had moved to 57 before he was caught at bat-pad from a leading edge while Rahane nicked off to Steve Smith at first slip who held onto a sharp catch.

India finished the day at 6-248 with Lyon the pick of the visiting bowlers with 4-67.

While Clarke was broad with his critique, Haddin put the heat on the in-form Pujara for not taking the attack to Australia's bowling quartet.

"India have to win the Test match (to reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy), and I don't think you're going to get better batting conditions than in that (second) session there," Haddin said on Fox Sports.

"I was bit shocked that Pujara didn't try to move the game forward a little bit.

"It looked like he put a lot of pressure on Rahane, then he's sort of got bogged down in his shell a bit too."

But Rahul, who topped scored with 60, said it was the relentless Australia attack that forced Pujara and Rahane to dig in before tea.

"We played really well," Rahul said after play.

"(The Australia bowlers) did put on a lot of pressure, they put the ball in the right areas so it's not like we missed out any boundary balls.

"These are the sessions in Test cricket you have to grind it out and play these off.

"You tell yourself the runs will come later on maybe after tea, the last hour.

"When I was batting in the first session my intent was to give the ball and the bowlers the respect then I can come out in the second session and get some runs."

Test Squads

India (for fourth Test): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Mohammed Shami.

Australia: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade

Australia's schedule in India

Feb 23-27, First Test, Pune – Australia won by 333 runs.

Mar 4-8, Second Test, Bengaluru – India won by 75 runs.

Mar 16-20, Third Test, Ranchi – match drawn.

Mar 25-29, Fourth Test, Dharamsala