Former Aussie great compares Steve Smith to Sachin Tendulkar

The Australian legends are going gaga over the current skipper Steve Smith. Smith has been in outstanding form at the moment. He played a masterful 141 in Australia’s first innings of the 1st Ashes Test in Brisbane to bail his team out of trouble. England looked very much in the driving seat after restricting the hosts to 200 odd runs with seven wickets down.

But Smith played the slowest knock of his Test career to take his team to a winning position before the openers- David Warner and Cameron Bancroft stitched in a 173-run partnership to seal a 10-wicket win at the Gabba. Smith bagged the man of the match award for his heroics.

Ponting on Smith

Former great Ricky Ponting has backed Smith to break his Australian record of 41 Test centuries.”Hopefully, it’s in danger (41 centuries record), I’d love to see that. If he keeps going like he is, he’s going to catch me in four or five years. It’s well and truly in danger,” Ponting had said.

Waugh on Smith

Former captain Steve Waugh is the latest addition to the Smith fan club. Waugh, who had held the record for most Test appearances by an Australian with 168 caps (later equalled by Ponting), said Smith will “rewrite the history books”.

“He’s almost going to rewrite the history books the way he is playing, 21 centuries in 57 Tests – and he didn’t do so well in his first 10 or so,” Waugh said in Sydney, as quoted by Cricket Australia’s (CA) website on Friday (December 1).

“He’s got an insatiable appetite for runs, a bit like (Sachin) Tendulkar and Ponting. The great players just want to keep scoring runs, they love batting and that’s what he does well. He concentrates well, overcomes plans well and just when you think you’ve got him in a weak moment he’ll find a way out of it,” he added.