Steve Smith breaks Joe Root's all-time record against India with hundred in boxing day Test at MCG
Steve Smith also brought up his fifth Test hundred at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He now has more Test centuries than Alan Border at the iconic venue. Notably, this is Smith's second consecutive hundred in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Steve Smith's love affair with India's bowling attack witnessed another historic chapter on Friday as the star batter scored his 11th Test hundred against the Asian side while playing in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Smith has now surpassed Joe Root to become the player with the most Test centuries against Team India.
Most Test centuries against India
| Player | Test hundreds vs India |
| Steve Smith | 11 |
| Joe Root | 10 |
| Sir Garfield Sobers | 8 |
| Sir Viv Richards | 8 |
| Ricky Ponting | 8 |
Smith has registered his 11th Test ton against India in just his 43rd innings whereas Root has 10 hundreds in 55 innings. Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Vivian Richards and Ricky Ponting are jointly tied for the third spot on the list with eight centuries each.
This is Smith's fifth hundred at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and he now has more hundreds at the iconic venue than Sir Allan Border, Bill Lawry, Ricky Ponting and Greg Chappell. Border, Lawry, Ponting and Chappell registered four centuries at the "G". Smith now has 34 Test hundreds to his credit - one more than Kane Williamson.
Meanwhile, Smith's hundred has put Australia in a consolidating position in the ongoing Boxing Day Test as the hosts have scored more than 400 and are racing towards the 450-run mark.
Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
Bench: Beau Webster, Sean Abbott, Josh Inglis, Jhye Richardson
Support Staff: Andrew McDonald, Andre Borovec, Daniel Vettori, Michael Di Venuto, Clint McKay
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep
Bench: Shubman Gill, Tanush Kotian, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana
Support Staff: Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, T Dilip, Morne Morkel