Not the best of my tons, says Smith

Steve Smith, largely tipped to take over from Michael Clarke as the next Australian captain, added one more reason to his increasing stock with a confident century, his fifth and the highest so far (162 n.o.) against India here on Wednesday.

Smith, 25, not only showed he is a precocious talent but that he also possesses a mature head.

The right-hander didn’t lose sight of reality despite a sea of emotions that the Australians are going through in this Test.

"I'm not sure if it's my best innings," he said when asked of it was the best of his five Test tons.

"I think my hundred at Centurion against South Africa in those conditions would probably be my best one so far in my book, but every hundred's nice and hopefully I've got a few more this summer,” he noted.

He candidly admitted that he had thought about going to 408 painted on the turf to celebrate his hundred.

"I had a bit of time didn't I, I had that long break on 98 and I thought if I got the two more runs it would be nice to go over there to the 408 and stick my bat in the air and say thanks to Hughesy (Phillip Hughes) for being with me all the way out there," Smith said.

It was also a happy coincidence that all three – David Warner, Michael Clarke and Smith himself – who were very close to Hughes, got to three figures. "We're all good mates with Hughesy’, us three, so I was sort of hoping all three of us would get runs. It's nice to be in that position with 517 on the board in the first innings."

Patience the key
Patience, Smith pointed out, has been the key to his growth as a Test batsman. Smith’s all five Test tons have come in the last one year or so.

"I think at the start of my career I probably wasn't quite as patient as I am now,” he remarked.

“I tried to play too many shots early on and that got me in trouble. I think that's the way I wanted to go about my business, to try and get my patience right. I know if I do that then I'll be able to make big runs and today's a good example of that and hopefully it continues," he analysed.