Steve Smith Kick-Starts Captaincy With Crucial Century

Steve Smith's purple patch continued as he began his life as a 'stand-in' captain with an essential century against India in the first innings of the Brisbane Test on Friday. (Scorecard | Day 3 Blog)

This is Smith's sixth century in Tests and his second in three innings.

Smith walked out to bat at 98/2 on Day 2 with Indian bowlers seeming to have a spring in their step. Smith put on 87 runs for the fourth wicket with Shaun Marsh to deny the visitors a chance to take a massive first-innings lead.

At the start of Day 3, Australia began with a 187-run deficit and lost a couple of early wickets in the morning session.

However, an unbeaten stand of over 100 runs with Mitchell Johnson tormented the Indian bowling. Smith continued to score at a brisk rate while Johnson went after the hapless Indian bowlers to bring down the deficit to double-figures.

In the course of this partnership, Smith brought up his century.