Brisbane [Australia], January 16 (ANI): As Rohit Sharma gifted his wicket on day two of the ongoing fourth Test against Australia at Brisbane, former skipper Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday did not hold back on his criticism and said that there is no excuse for Rohit to be playing that kind of shot.

Rohit played a knock of 44 runs in the first innings of the fourth Test, but in trying to hit a six, Rohit ended up gifting his wicket to off-spinner Nathan Lyon.

"Why? Why? Why? That is an unbelievable shot. That's an irresponsible shot. There is a fielder at long-on, there is a fielder there at deep square leg. You have just hit a boundary a couple of balls earlier, why would you play that shot? You are a senior player, there is no excuse, absolutely no excuse for that shot. An unneccessary wicket, gifted away. Total unneccessary," said Gavaskar while commentating for Channel 7.

In trying to be positive, Rohit chipped the ball to deepish mid-on and as a result, he was sent back to the pavilion.

At the tea interval, India's score reads 62/2 and the visitors are still trailing the hosts by 307 runs. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are currently unbeaten on 8 and 2 respectively. In the second session, 62 runs were scored from 26 overs.

Shubman Gill and Rohit lost their wickets in the second session on day two, and now Pujara and Rahane are tasked with ensuring that the visitors do not fall behind.

After bundling out Australia for 369, India got off to a bad start with the bat as the visitors lost the opening wicket of Shubman Gill (7) in the seventh over of the innings. Pujara then joined Rohit in the middle and the duo played cautiously against the Australian pace attack.

Pujara and Rohit formed a 49-run stand, but as soon as India started to look comfortable, Nathan Lyon dismissed Rohit (44), reducing India to 60/2. In the end, Pujara and Rahane ensured that the visitors did not lose more wickets before the tea interval.

Earlier in the first session, Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar took six wickets among themselves as India bundled out Australia for 369. Marnus Labuschagne top-scored for Australia as he played a knock of 108 while for India, Thakur, Sundar, and Natarajan scalped three wickets each. The first session on day two saw 95 runs being scored from 28.2 overs.

On the first day of the fourth Test, Marnus Labuschagne had played a knock of 108 runs to give the hosts an upper edge in the match. (ANI)