Australia's talismanic batter Steve Smith slammed his 34th Test century during Australia's first innings of the fourth Test against India on Friday in Melbourne. Smith's love affair with MCG continued, playing a knock, which was filled with incredibly amazing decision-making and excellent shot-making.
This was Smith's 11th Test ton against India, the most by any batter, which underpinned Australia's total. The highly skilled Smith had been under huge pressure to score runs but his nerveless innings came at the right time, bringing him back among runs. After the day two's play, Smith emphasised on the importance of self-belief and faith.
"I mean, you've got to have faith. You've got to have a bit of trust in what you're trying to do. I've played the game for long enough now to know that you can have your ups and downs. Sometimes you can be hitting the ball really nicely, which I think I said to all you guys when I wasn't scoring the runs," Smith said during the press conference.
"I actually felt like I was batting pretty well. And there's a difference, I think, between being out of form and out of runs. So, yeah, I thought I was hitting the ball nicely. Having some faith and confidence," Smith said.
Talking about the match, Australia remain in full control of the proceedings, with India having lost all of their top-order batters in quick succession. At the end of day two, India were 164/5 in response to Australia's first innings' total of 474.