Steve Smith breaks records en route to 36th Test ton
What's the story
Steve Smith has brought up his second successive century in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka.
The stand-in Aussie captain's latest ton came in the final session of the second Test in Galle.
He added a 150-plus stand with Alex Carey during his stay which took the Aussies past the 240-run mark.
Notably, SL were folded for 257/10 while batting first. Notably, this was Smith's 36th Test hundred.
Here are his stats.
Early setback
Sri Lanka's early triumph overshadowed by Carey-Smith partnership
The afternoon session on Day 2 started on a positive note for Sri Lanka as Nishan Peiris's arm-ball sent Usman Khawaja back.
However, this early success was soon eclipsed by the mighty partnership of Smith and Carey for the third wicket.
The duo's skillful handling of spin made things worse for the home team.
Both batters took advantage of the softer ball which didn't spin much off the pitch, scoring a brisk 112 runs in the session.
Match dynamics
Australia's aggressive approach puts pressure on Sri Lanka
The duo's aggressive approach has given Australia a good chance of taking a mammoth first innings lead.
As mentioned, Smith, who is leading the Aussies in the absence of Pat Cummins, got to his hundred in the final session.
Notably, he scored a match-winning 141 in the series opener. Each of his four Test tons against SL have come in away games.
Stats
Smith breaks this Test record of Ricky Ponting
En route to his ton, Smith beame Australia's highest run-scorer in Tests in Asia Asia.
The 35-year-old needed just 27 runs to go past Ricky Ponting's tally of 1,889 runs on Asian soil.
He achieved the new milestone in his 42nd innings, with an impressive average of 51-plus in Asia.
Meanwhile, Ponting scored his runs over 48 innings at an average of 41.97.
Records
Smith scripts these records
As per ESPNcricinfo, Smith now owns the joint-most Test tons among active players alongside England's Joe Root (36 each).
Overall, the duo boast the joint-fifth-most hundreds in the format.
While this was Smith's 17th Test ton as captain, only Ponting (19) has more such scores while leading Australia.
The stand-in Aussie skipper now also owns the joint-third-most Test tons among non-Asian batters in Asia (7).
Stats
Here are his Test numbers
Playing his 116th Test, Smith has now raced past 10,200 runs at 56-plus.
The series opener saw Smith clock his 35th Test ton in addition to surpassing 10,000 runs. He now owns 36 tons besides 41 fifties.
In seven matches versus Sri Lanka, he has over 640 runs at 60-plus (100s: 4, 50: 1). As per ESPNcricinfo, Smith owns over 4,800 runs in away Tests.