India 1-71 after Aussies declare

Australia’s otherwise forgettable four-nil Test series loss in India almost two years ago was only memorable for a couple of things, the positive of which was the confirmation that Steve Smith was a Test batsman of substance.

In the wake of another untroubled innings today that yielded his fourth century in as many Tests, the return series against the same opposition has stamped him as clearly among the world’s top talents and a leader who will carry Australian cricket deep into the future.

With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy already in their keeping, the Australians have put a sleeper-hold on the final Commonwealth Bank Test by declaring their first innings closed at 7-572 and snaring India’s in-form opener Murali Vijay for a third-ball duck in the opening over.

The recalled Mitch Starc began in the perfect fashion

At stumps on day two, India’s pursuit of the fourth-biggest first-innings total the SCG has seen – and the largest since a Tendulkar-inspired India amassed 7(dec)-705 in Steve Waugh’s farewell Test a decade ago – stood dwarfed at 1-71.

Still more than 300 runs adrift of the follow-on target.

But as was the case for all but the occasional day that has belonged to his teammate David Warner, the day’s talking point was once again Smith.

Quick Single: Smith's flood of runs continues

Steve Smith made it four hundreds in as many Tests

Having earned his Baggy Green cap in 2010 as a raw leg-spinner who could bat a bit, Smith quickly found himself back in domestic cricket with clear instructions to tighten his technique because a brighter future awaited him as a batsman than as an allrounder.

That future dawned at Mohali, the north-western Indian outpost with the Himalayan backdrop, when Smith returned amid dressing room upheaval and came within a couple of crisp boundaries of a century on his return.

Since then he has missed neither a Test, a trick or a beat in compiling eight Test centuries – each one an even more authoritative version of the previous – at an average of more than 65 per innings.

But even more heart-warming for those who recognised his undoubted talent early is the way he has seamlessly stepped into the captaincy in Michael Clarke’s absence, and put India to a sword wielded by nobody with greater conviction or menace than Smith himself.

Not that India’s bowlers have done much sabre-rattling during their long and painful stints in the field.

India have not won a Test in this series essentially because their bowlers have failed to capture all 10 Australian wickets five times from seven attempts.

The only time the Australians have not invoked the mercy rule on their first innings was the previous Test in Melbourne, and even then they had piled 530 on the board before the last man succumbed.

By contrast, India has been bowled in five of their six trips to the crease in this series.

And on the evidence presented when they finally got to the crease this afternoon – and promptly lost a wicket before finding a run – that ratio could conceivably climb to seven from eight in coming days.

Such is the impotence of an Indian attack that prior to the opening Test was lauded as the brash new face of a subcontinental seam attack with such potential the Indian brains trust saw no need for a genuine allrounder to supplement four specialist bowlers, new batting benchmarks have accumulated at pace.

Just today, Australia passed 500 in their first innings for the fourth consecutive Test, the first time in almost 50 years they’ve managed that in a single series.

In reaching 117 before edging a tired drive, Smith etched his name alongside one of the game’s all-time greats – South African allrounder Jacques Kallis – as the only men to have posted centuries in every match of a four-Test series.

Only legendary West Indian batsman Clyde Walcott has managed five (in the five-Test series against Australia in the Caribbean in 1955) but Smith’s chances of equalling that mark rest on the unlikely scenario of him being required to bat a second time in this game.

And for the first time in almost 140 years of Test match involvement, each one of Australia’s top six batsmen passed 50 in the same innings.

But among all this numerical nirvana for stats nerds, the day’s defining image was one of abject despair as Shane Watson squandered a heaven-sent chance to score the Test century that has so painfully eluded him for more than a year.

Shane Watson made a patient 81 before holing out to deep midwicket

After more than four hours of batting on a flat, fast bowler-breaking pitch, Watson miscued an attempted pull shot – his first overt show of aggression for the day having cautiously added 20 to the 61 he had studiously compiled the previous day – and expertly found the fielder at deep square leg.

It was one of those catches the fielding coach hits unerringly to outfielders during training sessions.

Except this was a match, and Watson had shown no prior inclination to attempt such a stroke until the ball immediately prior to his dismissal when he bailed out of a pull shot upon finding the ball on him quickly and too wide of off stump to control the shot.

Perhaps he had been shaken by the blow he copped on the back of the helmet as he unsuccessfully tried to turn and avoid a skidding bouncer from Mohammed Shami, and his faith in avoiding a repeat occurrence was similarly dented.

Whatever the cause, Watson watched the ball sail safely to the hands of Ravi Ashwin with a despairing disbelief that was reflected in his eyes as he tried to process what had just happened before dragging himself from the field.

The concentration and application Watson had funnelled into his 81 is perhaps best illustrated by the fact he was the only one of the eight Australian batsmen to take the crease who failed to maintain a scoring rate of more than a run every two balls faced.

The next-most sedate after Watson’s 44.26 per 100 balls was Joe Burns (50.87), who was playing just his third Test innings and was hellbent on reaching 20 for the first time.

Queenslander Joe Burns registered his first Test half-century

He duly went on to score a maiden Test half-century, looking increasingly assured as he did, and gave the impression he could have enjoyed many more had he not been pursuing quick runs after tea as a declaration loomed, which led to him holing out to long-on.

Burns had been involved in the third century-plus partnership of Australia’s innings, putting on 114 for the fifth-wicket with Shaun Marsh who was likely the second-most disappointed person in the Australian dressing room today.

Having missed his first century on Australian soil by a matter of centimetres in Melbourne, Marsh appeared even less troubled by India’s bowlers today, unfurling a series of scorching straight drives that had bowlers, umpires and the non-striking batsman weaving for safety.

Marsh looked in complete control during an impressive 73

It seemed the only impediment to him making good the opportunity he misjudged last week would be the timing of Smith’s inevitable declaration, until he tried to cut a ball that cramped him for space and India’s new ‘keeper Wriddhiman Saha clung to a tumbling chest mark.

Smith’s pre-match pledge to pursue victory with a dash more adventure than was on show on the final morning at the MCG was open to debate when he chose to bat on past tea today, even though his team had already piled on a series-high first innings tally of 5-538.

But there was nothing conservative about the way Burns and then Ryan Harris (25 from nine balls) launched themselves at India’s tired, traumatised bowlers after the break, with 34 runs gushing from the three-and-a-half overs they were forced to send down before the Australians ended their misery.

Temporarily.

Ryan Harris wowed the SCG crowd with his quick-fire cameo