Steve Smith has finally ended his run drought to score a much-needed Test century against India at Gabba in Brisbane. This is Smith’s first Test ton in 18 months.

Australia lost three early wickets on the second day of the third Test but that didn’t hold Steve Smith back. The 35 year old showed his best self as he grew bigger in his stance once he crossed his half century.

The Australian batter brought up his 32nd Test ton and in the proceedings, he also notched up another record. Smith has now surpassed Ricky Ponting to have the most number of centuries against India in international cricket.

He has now scored 15 centuries followed by Ponting and Joe Root who has 13 centuries to his name. Smith also leapfrogged Steve Waugh as he is now the Australian player with the second most Test centuries after Ponting.

Smith needs nine more centuries to get past Ponting’s tally of 41 Test tons. Riding on Smith and Travis Head’s heroics, Australia finished day 2 on a high as the home side posted 405/7 wickets.

The Border Gavaskar Trophy is evenly poised with the Test series tied at 1-1. With a place in the World Test Championship in the offing, both India and Australia will be eager to get the better of each other to secure a place in the WTC summit clash.

India XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.

Australia XI: Nathan McSweeney, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (captain), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

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