Hyderabad: Star Australia batter Steve Smith registered his 34th Test century against India during the fourth Test, the Boxing Day Test, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne. Smith currently has the third joint-most hundreds to his name at the MCG with former England cricketer John Berry Hobbs, who played for nearly 21 years from 1908-29.
Steve Smith, revered as the modern-day great of the game, has been Australia's run machine for the last decade now. Smith loves scoring runs against India across all formats. With this ton, Smith became the player with the most Test hundreds against India in the longest format of the game, surpassing England's Joe Root's tally of 10.
11 Test 100s for Steve Smith against India! More than anyone else in history 👏 #AUSvIND | #MilestoneMoment | @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/SO8tnwPds4
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 27, 2024
So, let's just have a look at the top 5 players who have scored the most centuries against India in Test cricket.
- Steve Smith
Steve Smith began his career as the spinner and was considered the successor of legendary Shane Warne. However, Smith established himself more as a batter than a bowler and shortly became a mainstay of the mightily Australian Test team. His first 4 centuries against India came during the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Smith was in his prime form and Indian bowlers seemed clueless bowling against him because of his unorthodox batting style. Smith scored 4 tons in as many Tests in a row. He then smashed three back-to-back hundreds in Australia's tour to India for the 2017-18 BGT Trophy. The remaining four centuries came from various matches: one in the 2021 Sydney Test, one in the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) Final at The Oval, and the last two in the ongoing series. His first century of the current series came in the Brisbane Test, and he carried that form into Melbourne, where he hit his 11th century during the Boxing Day Test.
| Steve Smith Test Centuries vs India | |||
| Runs | Opposition | Ground | Test Start Date |
| 162* | v India | Adelaide | 9 Dec 2014 |
| 133 | v India | Brisbane | 17 Dec 2014 |
| 192 | v India | Melbourne | 26 Dec 2014 |
| 117 | v India | Sydney | 6 Jan 2015 |
| 109 | v India | Pune | 23 Feb 2017 |
| 178* | v India | Ranchi | 16 Mar 2017 |
| 111 | v India | Dharamsala | 25 Mar 2017 |
| 131 | v India | Sydney | 7 Jan 2021 |
| 121 | v India | The Oval | 7 Jun 2023 |
| 101 | v India | Brisbane | 14 Dec 2024 |
| 140 | v India | Melbourne | 26 Dec 2024 |
- Joe Root
Joe Root, who currently has the most Test centuries (36) among the 'Fab-4', has the second most hundreds against India. He has 10 Test tons vs India in his kitty and can add more to the tally when India will tour England for the 5-Test series in July 2025. Root scored a couple of centuries on India's 2014 to European country in Nottingham and The Oval respectively. His next ton came in Rajkot in 2016. He added one century to tally in 2018, scoring 125 at The Oval. Joe Root then picked the form of his life in the year 2021 as he has scored a total of 18 Test centuries so far in the last three years, the most by any active cricketer. Root amassed three Test hundreds in 2021 at home, with the remaining two coming in 2022 and 2024.
| Joe Root Test Centuries vs India | |||
| Runs | Opposition | Ground | Test Start Date |
| 154* | v India | Nottingham | 9 Jul 2014 |
| 149* | v India | The Oval | 15 Aug 2014 |
| 124 | v India | Rajkot | 9 Nov 2016 |
| 125 | v India | The Oval | 7 Sep 2018 |
| 218 | v India | Chennai | 5 Feb 2021 |
| 109 | v India | Nottingham | 4 Aug 2021 |
| 180* | v India | Lord's | 12 Aug 2021 |
| 121 | v India | Leeds | 25 Aug 2021 |
| 142* | v India | Birmingham | 1 Jul 2022 |
| 122* | v India | Ranchi | 23 Feb 2024 |
- Sir Garry Sobers / Ricky Ponting / Viv Richards
Three cricket veterans -- Ricky Ponting, Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Garry Sobers are tied for third position on the list of batters with the most centuries in Tests against India. All three ended their careers with 8 Test hundreds vs India.
Ponting played 29 Test matches against India and scored 2,555 runs at an average of 54.36 which includes three double centuries. On the other hand, West Indian great Vivian Richards amassed 1927 runs in 28 Tests, averaging 50.71 against India.
Speaking of Sobers, he had a sensational batting average of 83.47 runs against India as he notched up 1,920 runs.
| Garry Sobers Test Centuries vs India | |||
| Runs | Opposition | Ground | Test Start Date |
| 142* | v India | Brabourne | 28 Nov 1958 |
| 198 | v India | Kanpur | 12 Dec 1958 |
| 106* | v India | Eden Gardens | 31 Dec 1958 |
| 153 | v India | Kingston | 7 Mar 1962 |
| 104 | v India | Kingston | 13 Apr 1962 |
| 108* | v India | Georgetown | 19 Mar 1971 |
| 178* | v India | Bridgetown | 1 Apr 1971 |
| 132 | v India | Port of Spain | 13 Apr 1971 |
| Viv Richards Test Centuries vs India | |||
| Runs | Opposition | Ground | Test Start Date |
| 192* | v India | Delhi | 11 Dec 1974 |
| 142 | v India | Bridgetown | 10 Mar 1976 |
| 130 | v India | Port of Spain | 24 Mar 1976 |
| 177 | v India | Port of Spain | 7 Apr 1976 |
| 109 | v India | Georgetown | 31 Mar 1983 |
| 120 | v India | Wankhede | 24 Nov 1983 |
| 109* | v India | Delhi | 25 Nov 1987 |
| 110 | v India | Kingston | 28 Apr 1989 |
| Ricky Ponting Test Centuries vs India | |||
| Runs | Opposition | Ground | Test Start Date |
| 125 | v India | Adelaide | 10 Dec 1999 |
| 141* | v India | Sydney | 2 Jan 2000 |
| 242 | v India | Adelaide | 12 Dec 2003 |
| 257 | v India | Melbourne | 26 Dec 2003 |
| 140 | v India | Adelaide | 24 Jan 2008 |
| 123 | v India | Bengaluru | 9 Oct 2008 |
| 134 | v India | Sydney | 3 Jan 2012 |
| 221 | v India | Adelaide | 24 Jan 2012 |
