Steve Smith hits first Test century in 18 months

AFP, Brisbane :

Australia’s Steve Smith scored his first Test century in 18 months after tea on the second day of the third Test against India at the Gabba in Brisbane on Sunday.
Despite struggling early in his innings Smith began to look far more comfortable once he passed 50.
It was Smith’s 33rd Test century and his first since he scored 110 against England at Lord’s in June 2023.
Smith moves ahead of Steve Waugh on the all-time list of century-makers for Australia, and now sits second behind Ricky Ponting, who scored 41.
While the ton was his first in 24 Test innings – the previous having come against England in the Ashes last year – Smith believes he was ticking all the boxes over the past month in the lead up to the series.
“It’s just nice to get to three figures, been a while,” Smith said at the end of the second day’s play.
“It’s been tricky, the first couple of games: had a couple of nice balls. Got strangled down the leg side in Adelaide. But I feel like I’ve been batting nice over the last month or so.
“Just sticking to my processes. Trusting that it’ll turn around. You need a bit of luck on these surfaces that we’re playing on at the moment. I think I got a bit of luck early on and, I guess, I made the most of it,” he added.
Resuming their first innings at 28/0 after a rain-marred opening day, Australia were handed early setbacks by Jasprit Bumrah, who removed both the openers in the first session. Nitish Kumar Reddy then got rid of Marnus Labuschagne as the hosts toiled three down at the score of 75.
Compiling 101 runs off 190 deliveries, Smith combined alongside Travis Head (152) to add 231 runs for the fourth wicket. A partnership that steered the game in Australia’s favor.
The 35-year-old sang praises of Head, who scored his second successive ton in the ongoing series, conceding he felt the latter’s innings was a flashback to last year’s ICC World Test Championship Final between these two teams.
“Obviously, had a great seat in the house to watch Travis go about his business again. It was a great partnership and it felt a lot like the World Test Championship Final in a way,” he said.
“The way he came out and just smacked it and I could sort of take a second fiddle and do my thing. It was a really good day.”